From the Frying Pan into the Fire Rewrite
by Nedy Rahn
Summary: This a rewrite of my story From the Frying Pan into the Fire. It involves a Cylon attack on Icarus after they destroyed the Lucian Alliance fleet targeted on Icarus. The Hammond winds up escaping with surivors from Icarus into the Cyrannus Cluster.
1. Chapter 1

33

From the Frying Pan into the Fire

_By_

_Denise Hemmingway_

**Author's Notes:**

This story is based on the premier of Stargate: Universe, the pilot miniseries of Battlestar Galactica: The Reimagined Series, and the television movie Battlestar Galactica: The Plan.

I own none of these franchises; they are the properties of MGM, SyFy, Ronald D. Moore for nBSG and Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper for SG: U.

The story begins at the beginnings for both series, but will be entirely an alternate universe from the canon ones.

**Chapter One:**

_**Unknown System thirty light years from Icarus Base, Icarus 2 October 2009/ 2 October YR2000 or 2000 years since the evacuation from Kobol:**_

Jarod Cavil had been assigned by his brothers to take this Basestar Battle Group coreward and spinward over a month ago. Signals had been intercepted hinting at more human colonies in this direction in the Galaxy. Meanwhile his brothers John and Jacob were going to execute the attack on the Twelve Colonies in a couple of weeks. Currently he had his battle group poised to strike at an unsuspecting human colony just thirty light years from his current position.

With his hand in the interface solution of the Command Table Jarod received the reports from the scout Raiders he sent out. There indeed was a colony or base on the third world of the next star system. Now he was listening to the wireless intercepts that the Raiders brought back. "Well at least we'll be able to carry out a raid this time. The three pyramid shaped ships we intercepted proved to be less of a challenge than we first thought. Then again we caught them unawares with their guards down," Jarod said as he looked at the other six members of his Command Node. There was a Two, a Three, a Four, a Five, a Six, and an Eight standing around the table with him. If it hadn't been for John's psychotic moment of jealousy there could have been a Seven too, but all copies of that model were killed and boxed. John when so far as to kill and box their parents too and only the Ones knew the truth of the whole affair.

John had committed fratricide, patricide, and matricide then put the Collective to the path of committing genocide. Jarod though not opposed to making war on the Colonials for violations of the Armistice was not all that inclined to kill of the entire human race for the indiscretions of one Battlestar, its crew and the officers over it. Yet John used that excuse to plot the end of the Twelve Colonies of Man. Then there were the signal intercepts from deeper in the Galaxy and this spiral arm fragment. These hinted that the Thirteenth Tribe was out there somewhere. Yet Jarod knew what all the Ones knew that the Thirteenth Tribe incinerated itself in a nuclear holocaust 2000 years ago and their parents were the last of the Thirteenth.

"The Thirteenth Tribe is dead, yet we are receiving modern signals from worlds not all that far from us, hmmm… Then we have these three ships we attacked and destroyed that should have destroyed us. Instead we caught them by surprise and struck like a viper from the grass without warning. Two did you detect any signals from the humans of those ships to a higher command anywhere?" Jarod asked the Two, Louis Conoy.

Conoy shook his head in the negative, "No we hit them so fast that they never had time to get out a warning to anyone. Our salvage teams have recovered several pieces of their technology. Perhaps after Sheldon has had a chance to look at them we can devise a means of counter acting them and maybe the means to incorporate their technology into ours." The Two then looked at the Four who went by Sheldon O'Neill.

Four or Sheldon O'Neill his hand also in the solution allowing him to read the data transferred from the scout Raiders looked up smiling for technology and sciences were the specialties of his model. "Yes, we should after careful study be able to incorporate the technologies we've recovered from the wreckage of these ships the humans that crewed and commanded them call Ha'Taks. They're a form of Battlecruiser and Mothership. We've also with the help of the Sixes and Eights recovered several of their fighters called Deathgliders, some strike bombers called Al'kesh, and some transports called Tel'Taks. From these ships we should be able to decode their computer technologies and others. I am confident that by the time we've destroyed the humans of Colonies and secured the twelve worlds we'll have figured out how better to defeat all of the technologies we've recovered from these ships."

The Three Deidra Biers nodded then spoke, "On that we all agree, but my sisters with the recovery teams on the former flagship of this attack group of Ha'Taks has uncovered the orders of this group. It was their mission to attack the human base on the third planet of the next system. It is home to a base of a human tribe called the Tau'ri. They have some sort of secret testing facility there…"

Sheldon interrupted, "Yes, these Tau'ri are researching something called a Stargate. It seems that to conduct this research they need the power provided by a mineral compound called Naquadria. From the texts we've recovered so far from the command Ha'Tak the humans from this Lucian Alliance wanted to steal the Naquadria. This mineral has more energy conversion than even tylium per kilogram of material. My proposal is that we attack this Icarus Base, kill off these Tau'ri humans except for those we wish to interrogate and establish claim to this world so we can mine this Naquadria. We can with study develop a means to power our jump drives and maneuver drives without the use of tylium. That would be a strategic advantage if this war of ours expands beyond the Colonies as it looks that it will."

Jarod nodded and looked at the other six, "Let's vote on this, Sheldon of the Fours has proposed we attack this Icarus Base belonging to this human tribe called the Tau'ri. We capture it and some prisoners for questioning. Then we send back to the Collective for mining and other ships so we can begin operations developing a way to use this Naquadria to replace tylium as our fuel of choice for our ship and whatever other uses we may find for it. How do you vote?"

Louis looked at Jarod and said, "The Twos agree."

Deidra nodded, "The Threes agree."

Sheldon smiled and nodded, "The Fours agree."

Adam Doral, the Five looked to his left then his right and nodded too, "The Fives agree."

Charlie Walsh, the Six, a honey blond woman with glasses, though everyone present knew she didn't need them, nodded with a serious look on her face, "The Sixes agree."

Sharon Tillman, the Eight looked around to the others then she nodded, "The Eights agree."

Jarod nodded then smiled the same evil 'I've got you now' smile his brothers all used and said, "Great then tell the Hybrid to jump the Battle Group to this Icarus system and we'll begin my brothers' war against humans a couple of weeks early."

_**A Resurrection Ship in a secret resurrection chamber near the Cylon Colony two weeks prior to the attack on the Colonies:**_

John and Jacob Cavil stood in the chamber looking over the comatose bodies of their parents. John was smoking a cigar that Jacob knew was from leaves grown on Sagittaron. Jacob watched him and wondered just where John will get new cigars if this attack is carried out as planned, but he kept that thought to himself. John took the cigar from his mouth and began to use it as a pointer. Jacob just shook his head and stood next to the tub with Galen in it.

"Dad," John began at Saul's tub then with his cigar he pointed at Ellen's tub, "Ma," then he pointed next to Galen's, "Dad." Then he turned and pointed with his cigar to the tub that held Tori, "Ma," and next the one that held Samuel, "Dad."

Then Jacob looked at John shaking his head. John looked back at his brother and said, "What? We'll attack in two weeks, destroy these pests that are humanity, our parents will perish with the vermin they prize so much, and resurrect here speaking profound apologies while spilling love upon us like precious jewels…"

Jacob shook his head in disbelief at his brother then said, "If that's so then be prepared to receive some sticky hugs."

John scowled at Jacob and then knelt beside Mother Ellen's tub and after playing with one of her breast and the associated nipple he said, "You know I have a yearning to experiences a nuclear holocaust. I'll go to Picon and experience with our dear mother Ellen here. I'll just slip into a tub beside her and we'll awaken together." He tweaked her left nipple then knowing there was nothing she could do to him.

Jacob looked at his elder brother in disgust and said, "If you're going to do it you'd best get going. There's not much time left. I'm going to Caprica to contact our agent there and get from her the final codes to crack their defenses." That being said both brothers Cavil leave their sleeping parents in the secret room of the Resurrection Ship and head in their separate directions.

_**Space over Icarus Base, USS George Hammond's Mess Hall:**_

Doctor Nicolas Rush, Eli Wallace, Lieutenant General Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill, Senator Alan Armstrong, Chloe Armstrong (the Senator's daughter), and Colonel Samantha Carter look down through one of the armored viewing portals at a brown and tan planet below that has only the barest hints of blues and greens on its surface. Eli Wallace looks at the world that seems to be one big mixture of the Mojave, Sonoran, Gobi, Negev, Kalahari, and Sahara deserts rolled up together into a monster worldwide desert. Only the northern and southern Polar Regions had much in the way of green as did the limited number of rivers emptying into the planets northern and southern polar oceans.

Only in areas where the distance between the rivers wasn't great were there grasslands like the Steppes of Asia and Europe, the Great Plains of North America or the Savannahs of Africa, South America, or Australia. To Eli the rest of the planet was one big wasteland of brown. Eli looked down on his first alien world and shook his head saying, "Well I guess for each Earth out there in the Galaxy there has to be a Tatooine." Then he frowned before saying, "I take it the world that was in the game was based on this one, right?" He was looking at Rush then.

Lt. Gen. O'Neill looked down at the world below them frowning like Eli and said, "In my vast experience going off world son you either wound up on worlds that reminded me of the Pacific Northwest or worlds that reminded me of the Middle East as far as climates went. I've only found a few that were totally earthlike, and I've yet to find our version of Dagobah." Jack looked again at the planet below and said, "Yes this is the planet that was in the game, but we named it something else." Then he looked at the rest of the party saying, "Carter I want you on overwatch while I go down to brief Colonel Young, and Senator, Chloe, Doctor Rush, and Eli you'd best be getting your luggage and gear and head down there. See you after while Carter." The whole while he talked to them at the view port his main thought was, 'I hope the Icarus Mess Hall has cake.'

_**Icarus Base landing pad:**_

Lt. Gen. O'Neill, Sen. Armstrong, Dr. Rush, Eli Wallace, and Chloe Armstrong now stood on the tarmac and steel structure that served as the landing and launch pad for Icarus Base's complement of F/A 302C Starfighter II Aerospace Attack Fighters. The current Air Wing was made up of the USMC's VMF-422 _"Flying Buccaneers"_ and the USAF's 32d Fighter Squadron _"Wolfhounds"_ under the command of Colonel David Telford USMC. Col. Telford and the Base Commander Col. Everett Young met the party at the landing pad along with I.O.A. Representative Camile Wray. Telford was a man of mixed Anglo, Native American and Hispanic heritage, Young was of a northern European mix, and Wray was Amerasian. Young wore the black ABU like uniform being worn by the USAF personnel assigned to Icarus and Telford was in Desert MARPATs while Wray wore an earth tone women's business causal pant suit. The official and obligatory greetings were exchanged then Col. Young said, "Shall we go inside out of this heat and I'll give you a tour of the facility Senator, Chloe, and Mr. Wallace." He gestured with his left hand indicating the direction for the guest to go.

Eli walked along gawking at the battery of six railguns guarding the entrance to the hangar bay and the equally important main entrance into the Icarus Base proper. Gen. O'Neill saw Eli looking at the GE M349A2 "Tempus" 40mm dual purpose twin railgun carriages, "Those are the latest and we haven't yet used them on Earth except to protect D.C. and a few highly sensitive bases around the U.S."

Eli recognized them from the game and said, "Is it true they're named for a war god of the Forgotten Realms?" He was still in a state of utter awe at the fact he was actually on another planet hundreds of light years from Earth tailing and rimward along the Orion Spiral Arm Fragment, their celestial home.

Chloe being the only one on this world in Eli's age bracket took hold of his arm and gently tugged him along saying, "Come on Eli let's get inside. It'll be lots cooler inside the tunnels and chambers of the base I think." She smiled at him a friendly or maybe more than friendly smile the whole time. O'Neill smiled for it was an ill kept secret that the two young adults had developed a bit more than a friendship on the voyage out from Earth.

Unlike the same person in several other universes Second Lieutenant Eli Wallace, United States Army Reserve managed to graduate from MIT and received his commission in the Army Reserve. When Eli won the game, he was about to seek an Active Duty assignment as he had graduated just in time for the Crash of '08 and was currently unemployed. His only income was from his monthly drill checks. An O-1 made a nice bit of coin monthly on Active Duty, but on Reserve status it was actually less than if he worked even part-time at the local GameStop or Best Buy.

Eli was in civilian attire because officially he had been hired as a civilian Consultant for the Icarus Project. He had packed his dress blues and his three sets of ACUs in the Universal Camouflage Pattern what the surplus people called Army DigiPat. On his feet he wore one pair of his BLACKHAWK! 8 In. Warrior Wear Desert Ops Boots the other pair along with his military low quarters were packed away in his duffle bag and folding wardrobe bag. On his back he had his CamelBak 100 oz. MaXimum Gear MotherLode in black. This was his bag he carried those items you should have with you if the airline lost the rest of your luggage. He had also loaded it as his bug out bag.

Eli looked around now that he was inside with Chloe on his arm. To him it was just another military bunker complex, no different than that under Cheyenne Mountain or many others in the United States. From Chloe's looks as she scanned the interior, Eli figured it was her first time in any such facility. Yet they followed her father as Colonel Young gave General O'Neill and Senator Armstrong the nickel tour. "Chloe I take it this is your first visit to a military bunker," Eli said. His Army Reserve Center back home was built on the site of an old Atlas Missile silo complex command bunker. The bunker itself was incorporated into the design and updated to be a hardened command and control center for the Mid-Western states. "Chloe after you've been to one military bunker you've kind of been to them all, only the details within change." Eli was smirking as he said that.

Chloe hit him in the shoulder the way a friend or even a lover would that caught you in a jest. It was Col. Young that responded though, "However Lieutenant Wallace this complex is a bit different from that old missile silo command center you're used to. Isn't it Doctor Rush?" Col. Young was looking over at Rush who now had turned around from his conversation with Gen. O'Neill and Sen. Armstrong.

"Indeed Colonel, Eli we've built this complex way out here on the edge of Earth explored space because this is one of a handful of planets with a large vein of naturally occurring naquadria. Your figuring out the solution to the ninth chevron will help us to reach the destination of this stargate. The Alterans built this stargate on this world for a reason. I always thought it was so they could reach the farthest thing out there of theirs. What it is I haven't a clue, but this base's oldest parts date back to their reign within this galaxy. My best guess is that the naquadria of this world was used as a power enhancer or even as a battery of sorts." Nicolas Rush just smiled that Cheshire Cat grin of his. Then he added, "What I hope you'll be able to do lad is to aid me and my staff in making the connection to this destination. Then we'll truly go where no man has gone before." Rush's Scotts' burr came through as he seemed excited about the possibilities of implementing 2LT Wallace's solution to the problem.

_**Caprica City River Walk several hours prior to the Attack:**_

Natasi Six stood there watching Gaius Baltar walking away feeling a bit of a dagger prick to her very heart. She had not been ready to admit it until now, but over the two years of her assignment she had grown emotionally attached to the egocentric middle-aged human computer and cybernetics scientist. She was sure that Gaius' business meeting wasn't with some Colonial Fleet representative, unless the rep was a female officer he had met during their project to prefect the Command Navigation Program. She only turned from watching the human's finely sculpted rear-end when she feel another presence behind her.

Turning to look behind her Natasi saw him there and said, "You're late."

Jacob looked at her smiling like a wolf on the prowl for a meal. He said, "Have you got it?"

Natasi handed him the aluminum security case she's been carrying the last several weeks. "It's in here," she said as Jacob took it. She looked like she was handing over the very weapon that was going to kill everyone on this world including those that she's made real friendships with or the one that she's fallen in love with.

"Now, I suggest you lose that body and resurrect. I hear poison works well and isn't all that painful," Jacob said just before he turned to walk away with the case containing the codes that would allow the attack fleet's ships to unlock all of the Colonials' defenses leaving the gates to the kingdom wide open.

Natasi just followed his departure from the River Walk with her eyes. She turned and left herself making her way toward a cab. The whole walk to the yellow colored car was filled with her weighing the morality of what she's done. If One knew she was having such conflicted emotions he would say she's broken and in need of boxing. Yet she felt deep in her soul, 'machines don't have souls or moral conflicts!' a part of her mind, the machine part told her. 'Your emotions are illogical,' that part of her chided her. 'Frak you very much,' she replied as she told the cabbie to take her to Doctor Baltar's lake side residence in one of the wealthier suburbs of Caprica City in the Atlas Mountains overlooking the city.

Once there she paid the cabbie and he left, Natasi took off her shoes and walked down to the lake shore. When she stepped on to the small beach there she walked for a few kilometers to the north along the west shore of the lake below Baltar's home then she turned around. Arriving back at Baltar's home later in the afternoon she walked uphill and to the front door of the house. She had a key to the door and let herself in. Out front of the house in the driveway was a car she didn't recognize.

_**Gaius Baltar's House, Interior:**_

Inside after she closed the door she saw a trail of women's and men's clothing going up the stairs to the bedroom she shared with Gaius. Her rage was just barely under control as she climbed up the steps of the staircase. As she climbed up to Baltar's bedroom she picked up the woman's clothes. Then once she was in his room she dumped them all into a pile next to the sleeping olive skinned brunette to Gaius' right. Both the woman and Gaius were entwined with each other in a tangle of the very sheets and blankets that Natasi bought for her and him. She was incensed looking at Gaius cuddled up next to that vixen, that vermin, that human!

Natasi walked over to an antique chair that dated back to about 600 years prior to Caprica's unification. She turned it so it faced the bed and sat her fuzzy blue coat on a side table next to it. Then she stood in front of it staring at Gaius and his bimbo in their Natasi and his bed. 'Gaius you prick you frakked her all the time while I was out walking thinking over what I've done and am about to do,' Natasi thought as she tucked the back of shear black and silver lamé skirt under her thighs and sat down. She crossed her legs and stared at her boyfriend and his trollop.

As Natasi sat there watching Gaius and the woman he frakked today she seethed, but she tried all she could not to explode and rip both of them limb from limb. Her anger was reaching a boiling point, but she was exercising self-restraint as she looked at them. Then the woman, the trollop awake and all Natasi could say in a low growling threatening voice was, "Get out!"

The woman looked at her confused and said, "What?" The woman looked at Natasi as she began tapping Gaius on the shoulder trying to wake him while asking frightenedly, "Who are you?" Natasi just gave her one of those 'If looks could kill' stares.

"I said get out," Natasi's voice was edged with ice and she looked as if she could shoot lightning from her eyes.

The woman finally woke Gaius up and in a scared voice asked, "Who is she?"

Gaius looked first at the woman form the Defense Ministry he brought home after talking with her boss earlier in the morning. He'd been frakking her all morning and they fell asleep together sometime after having lunch in bed. He shook the sleep from his mind and looked first at her then over at the chair to see his platinum blond lovely assistant and lover sitting in the antique chair they had purchased for this very room. Natasi was glaring at the woman from the Defense Ministry as if she could just will her to die. All Gaius could say was, "She's a friend." He saw from the looks from either woman that he had said the wrong thing. Then he started stumbling on his words trying to fix the situation as his tryst of the morning quickly scooted out of his bed and gathered her clothing and headed down stairs. Then his interests turned to apologizing to Natasi for betraying her trust in him. He blamed himself for his indiscretions.

"Gaius, Gaius, don't, I'm not here to argue about your frakking around on me. I'm here to tell you about the end of your worlds and to admit I'm a Cylon," Natasi said sitting back in her favorite chair looking at the man she loved sorrowfully. She saw the confusion on his face as he took in and processed what she had just said. She waited for him to stop stuttering before continuing her betrayal of the Cylons.

_**Colonial Fleet Battlestar Galactica near the broken icy rockball planetoid Persephone:**_

The Battlestar Galactica the last of its class still in service sits in a stable orbit over the small planetoid at the edge of the Helios Alpha System. The ship was the oldest serving Battlestar in the Fleet. On this day she was being retired from the Fleet along with her current and last commander, Commander William "Husker" Adama. The ship today was the scene of hectic and frantic activity as the last of the preparations for the decommissioning ceremony were completed.

_**Starboard Landing Bay, Starboard Flight Pod, Battlestar Galactica the Decommissioning Ceremony:**_

The flyover by the Galatica's last active squadron of Vipers including CMDR Adama's son Captain Leland Joseph Adama callsign "Apollo" who flew Husker's old Mk II Viper passed over the immense viewing window that covered the opening of the landing bay. The crowds were awed by the display. The flyover was followed by an invocation by a Fleet Chaplin. Then the retiring CMDR Adama stood to deliver his speech as coordinator Aaron Doral from the Ministry of Education introduced him.

At the podium Adama cleared his throat and began his speech, "The Cylon War is long over, yet we must not forget the reasons why so many sacrificed so much in the cause of freedom. The cost of wearing the uniform can be high, but...sometimes it's too high. You know, when we fought the Cylons, we did it to save ourselves from extinction. But we never answered the question, why? Why are we as a people worth saving? We still commit murder because of greed, spite, jealousy. And we still visit all of our sins upon our children. We refuse to accept the responsibility for anything that we've done, like we did with the Cylons. We decided to play God, create life. When that life turned against us, we comforted ourselves in the knowledge that it really wasn't our fault, not really. You cannot play God then wash your hands of the things that you've created. Sooner or later, the day comes when you can't hide from the things that you've done anymore."

The audience sat in their seats stunned. Adama made his way back to his seat as they finally recovered and stood offering him a standing ovation. As he sat down his Executive Officer, Colonel Saul Tigh said, "Man you are full of surprises this day." Adama just nodded as he finally touched his seat to the chair's padding. Then he turned and watches the rest of the ceremony from his chair.

_**The Cylon Colony in a star system near the Armistice Line at the same time:**_

In its tub in an alcove off the Command Center of its Basestar a Hybrid begins to chant, "Seized by God they cry for succor in the dark of the light. Mists of dreams dribble on the nascent echo and love no more; Jump!" Then as if in the throes of an orgasm she arches her back and opens her mouth in a silent scream. While outside her ship the main scanner of the Colony scans all the Basestars surrounding it. After the scanning beam passes each ship they jump away.

_**Helios Alpha System as Adama's speech is finished and the Decommissioning Ceremony has completed over Caprica:**_

Dozens of starfish like starships pop into orbit over the earthlike planet that is the capital world of the Twelve Colonies and take up positions around her. In its chamber on the command Basestar the Hybrid resumes her chant, "Counting down. All functions nominal. All functions optimal. Counting down. The center holds. The falcon hears the falconer. Infrastructure, check. Wetware, check. Everyone hang on to the lap bar, please.

Apotheosis was the beginning before the beginning. Devices on alert. Observe the procedures of a general alert. The base and the pinnacle… The flower inside the fruit that is both its parent and its child… Decadent as ancestors… The portal in that which passes…

Nuclear devices activated, and the machine keeps pushing time through the cogs, like paste into strings into paste again, and only the machine keeps using time to make time to make time. And when the machine stops, time is an illusion we created. Free will, twelve battles, three stars, and yet we are countless as the bodies in which we dwell, are both parent and infinite children in perfect copies. No degradation.

The makers of the makers fall before the child. Accessing defense system: Handshake, handshake. Second level clear…

Accepting scan… Love outlasts death.

Their ships fail, skittering like skipped stones, and movement is meaningless in the absence of time. What never was is never again."

_**USS Hammond in orbit over planet Icarus, Icarus System light years from the Colonies and from Earth:**_

While maintaining a stationary orbit over Icarus Base and receiving General O'Neill after the reception and briefing with the Base Commander Col. Young, Major Kevin Marks is alerted by the Sensor Officer that there are multiple energy pulses in orbit over the planet within 1000 kilometer of the Hammond. He activated the ship's internal communications system and shouted, "Colonel Carter to the Bridge we have a situation here!" Then Marks turned to the Weapons Officer, "Ready all weapons and on my order decloak and raise shields!"

Col. Carter came rushing into the Bridge with Gen. O'Neill on her heels. "What's going on Marks?" she asked as she took the Command Chair from him and he took his place at the Pilot's Station.

"These four ships just jumped in after we beamed up General O'Neill ma'am," Marks began. Then he added, "They've taken up positions to implement an orbital bombardment of the surface. We've detected nuclear ordnance and I have Mark Nines targeted for each ship. They've already launched a fighter screen way larger than any we can put up. Our CAP says that their fighters seem to be some sort of autonomous UCAVs. We're still cloaked so they don't see us yet."

Suddenly the Sensors Officer yells out, "Detecting missile launch! Vampire! Vampire! Vampire! Missiles have been launched! Detecting multiple nuclear armed missiles fired toward the surface of Icarus!"

Carter looks over the Hammond's FSO, "Launch all 302s tell them to target any fighters or missiles that are targeted towards us!" Then she turns to the Communications Officer, "Get me Young!" Then she said to Marks, "Decloak and fire the Asgard Plasma Projectors at the nearest starship! Have all railguns targeted for point defense priorities are any missiles targeted toward us then any fighters inbound. I want a Mark Nine beamed into the greatest concentration of fighters!"

Turning to Gen. O'Neill Carter says, "Sir I would feel more comfortable if you weren't on the Bridge at the moment. You would be safer in your quarters, the Sickbay, or even in Engineering. Those are the safest locations in case of the ship being holed! Now sir no disrespect intended, but get off my Bridge!" Take a back a bit by Carter's outburst toward him O'Neill retreats from the Bridge and finds his way to one of the locations she said would be safest if the Hammond was damaged.

_**Cylon Command Basestar over Icarus:**_

The Hybrid chants, "It has begun, the fires of Perdition will burn throughout the Galaxy and the Children of Man will fall to the First Ones! Launching! Cry Havoc and cut loose the dogs of war! Missiles are on target!"

Jarod Cavil looked from the Command Station toward the Alcove, "What the frak does she mean by the Fires of Perdition will burn throughout the Galaxy and the Children of Man will fall to the First Ones?"

The Model Two just shrugged as he was equally confused. The others were equally baffled by the Hybrid's outbursts. Then the Model Six in the Command Node said, "Alien ship detected one thousand kilometers from our port! First there was nothing then suddenly an interceptor sized ship appeared!" Then her eyes look as if they're staring at something far off, "They've launched fighters and more are rising up from the surface! We have space and air superiority though! Detecting a nuclear detonation five hundred kilometers from our port! We've lost half our Raiders with that burst! The energy readings off of the explosion are off the scale measuring at least in the hundred gigaton range!"

Then the Four in the Command Node looked up from where he was stationed around the Command Interface Table, "We've lost two Basestars to similar explosions! Again the weapons' energy ratings were in the one hundred gigaton range! What are these people firing at us?"

The Hybrid then chants, "The sons and daughters of the First Ones, the brothers and sisters of Man will seek out and destroy the Children of Man as we destroy the Makers of the Makers! Jump!"

Then the Command Basestar jumps from the system as the missile barrage impacts on the planet below. The nuclear warheads detonate with many of them igniting the exposed veins of naquadria starting a chain reaction leading to the very core of Icarus. The last Basestar initiates ship to ship combat with the Hammond.

_**USS Hammond:**_

Col. Carter had ordered the use of Mark IXs against the enemy capital ships. Two were destroyed; one jumped away in a bluish-white flash of light and the fourth was boring in on her. "Weapons ready another Mark Nine for beaming over to the enemy ship," she orders as she watches the dog fights between F/A 302s from the Hammond and from Col. Telford's Icarus Wing on the holographic display at the Hammond's tactical plot table behind the Command Chair. General O'Neill being bored where he evacuated to returned to the Bridge with an escort from Hammond's Ship's Troops Detachment.

"Carter what's the tactical situation so far?" O'Neill asked.

"We have a fur ball of a dog fight going on out there between us and the planet. One surviving starship jumped away and the other is bearing down on us firing antiship missiles. So far we've given better than we've taken. The shields are holding and I have another Mark Nine prepped for beaming into our attacker," Carter said looking up from the display. "Colonels Young and Telford say that the nuclear bombardment of the surface has ignited multiple veins of naquadria. The planet is growing unstable. Most of the base's personnel are trapped in the Gate Room, but the Stargate Control Room has caved in. The blast doors into the Gate Room are holding for now, but the planet is experiencing massive seismic activity on a global scale. Doctor Rush fears that they don't have much time left before the planet explodes! To top it all Young says they have a prisoner. She's a honey blond woman that Young says resembles the actress and model Tricia Helfer back on Earth."

"Any casualties Colonel?" O'Neill asked.

"The Hammond has lost four 302s, but we've recovered the pilots by beaming them to the Sickbay. Colonel Telford's down to six 302s. Most of the pilots that lost their ships are here as well. I've ordered Telford to land his surviving ships on the Hammond. As for the surface garrison and base personnel, the Marine Rifle Company is down half of its people, the Base's doctor was killed during the nuclear strike by a cave-in. Senator Armstrong was injured by some falling debris and according to First Lieutenant Mathew Scott, Colonel Young has some broken ribs and a broken leg. Doctor Rush and Second Lieutenant Eli Wallace say that they can't use the gate to evacuate as the Gate Controls were buried under tons of rock and debris. We'll have to evacuate them by beaming them up to the Hammond and then make a hyperjump from the system before the planet explodes," Carter answered. Then her ship rocked as another enemy fighter slammed into the ship's shields. She looked over at Marks, "I want that last ship and any remaining enemy fighters out of my skies now! Beam the Nine into the last starship and another into the nearest gaggle of enemy fighters! FSO, combat landings are authorized get the 302s into the barn now! Marks as soon as the 302s have all landed beam the Nines!"

Shortly after her orders were given Marks beamed one Mk IX into the midst of a group of enemy fighters and the other into the core of the remaining enemy starship. Moments later the skies above the dying planet were again filled with two massive artificial suns that faded leaving behind nothing but wreckage.

"Beam up the survivors from the surface into cargo bays one alpha and one bravo," Carter ordered.

Marks looked up from his station and said, "Survivors are in both cargo bays."

Carter nodded and activated the intercom, "Sickbay medical teams to Cargo Bays One Alpha and One Bravo!" She then turned back to Marks while watching the scans of the surface showing major fissures and volcanic activity globally. "Marks get us out of here now; the planet's going to blow!"

Marks looked up toward her, "What heading sir?"

"I don't care; just get us to a safe system away from here!" Carter said.

"Engaging hyperdrives!" Marks said as he opened a hyperspace window.

Just as the Hammond enters the hyperspace window Icarus exploded sending a pulse wave of energy that was absorbed by the window pushing the Hammond like a surfboard on a monster wave. The energy pulse also charged the window keeping the tunnel open longer that Marks had calculated and plotted. When it spilled the American Deep Space Carrier back into normal space and closed the Hammond found itself thousands of light years from Earth in a system of four stars that turned out to be a pair of binary systems orbiting each other.

_**Orbit Ragnar the mega-Jovian world orbiting the Helios Gamma and Helios Delta systems:**_

"Where are we Marks?" Carter asked as Gen. O'Neill reentered the Bridge with Senator Armstrong, Dr. Rush, Colonels Young and Telford, and I.O.A. Representative Wray tailing behind him. Col. Carter was looking at a holographic image of the Neptune colored gas giant that was larger than Jupiter. "Look at the size of this gas giant. She's got to be more massive than Jupiter or Saturn back home," she said as Gen. O'Neill, Sen. Armstrong and Rep. Wray walked up to the tactical plot table's holographic display. Col. Young walked around the image and stood next to Col. Carter on her left as Gen. O'Neill stood on her right.

Across the round table stood Dr. Rush, Col. Telford, Camile Wray, and Sen. Armstrong. It was Armstrong that asked, "Where are we now?" He was looking at the massive Neptune colored world they were currently orbiting. He looked from Everett to Carter to O'Neill and back to Carter, "Does anyone know?"

Camile Wray though a member of the United States Foreign Service was an oversight representative assigned by the I.O.A. to oversee operations at Icarus International Operations Base. Now she was stranded in this distant cluster star system on this the latest of Earth's combat starships. Then she flippantly said, "Well I guess we've truly gone where no man has gone before…" only she was interrupted by Major Sharon Satterfield, the Hammond's Communications Officer.

"Ma'am I wouldn't say that. We're picking up multiple secure and unsecure transmissions on various radio frequencies. Most of them are in a dialect of Greek with its origins in ancient Mycenaean Greek and others are in a dialect of Latin almost similar to modern Italian or Spanish. Then there are some unsecure transmissions in a language that could have its origins in Ancient German," Satterfield said as she brought up a translation of one of the reports and handed it to Col. Carter.

Gen. O'Neill looked at Carter as she read the translation of the message, "What does it say Sam?" He watches Carter's eyes as the scanned down the message. She looks up to the people gathered around the holographic tactical table. The color had drained from her face as she asked Satterfield to run sensor scans of every habitable planet in each system. Satterfield acknowledged her orders and went to do the scans.

Then Col. Carter looked again at everyone around the table, "We've hyperjumped into the middle of a Pearl Harbor like attack on these worlds it seems. The first message we've translated was a military communique transmitted in the clear and it reads, 'To All Colonial Ships, From Picon Fleet Headquarters: this is not a drill! A massive Cylon attack is underway.' It goes on to say that thirty of their starships called Battlestars have already been destroyed and that the planets Picon, Tauron, Gemenon, Caprica and a list of others that read like the names of constellations of the Greco-Roman Zodiac are being bombed from orbit."

Sen. Armstrong asked, "Can we jump out of here Colonel Carter?" His face was a mixed mask of concern, fear, and horror.

Camile Wray ever the diplomat asked, "Is it possible to make contact with each side to negotiate an end to these hostilities?" Then Satterfield returned bearing more printouts of translations.

"Sirs, Ma'am, Commissioner Wray, here are more translations. It seems that many of this Colonial Fleet's ships were suffering malfunctions as they encounter the ships of these Cylons. There are multiple reports of their drives shutting down among many other malfunctions then before they were silenced in turn some ships are reporting their companion ships being destroyed without offering resistance after being scanned by the Cylon ships. Then there are reports like this the main city of a planet called Caprica was incinerated by a fifty megaton thermonuclear detonation. The Colonial Fleet Ship Yards at a planet called Scorpia have been destroyed as have similar orbital structures at the planets Caprica and Picon," Satterfield said as she listened to a new report from her Communications Division personnel. Her face paled as she listened to the new missive. "Oh my god, all live transmissions from their civil government have ended and there's an automated one now that sounds similar to some Emergency Alert System messages."

Everyone around the tactical table realized then that this was a much worse situation than either Pearl Harbor in December of 1941 or the September eleven attacks of 2001. Satterfield looked at everyone then forwarded the sensor sweep reports, "Gentlemen and ladies, the twelve main habitable worlds of this cluster have been bombed from orbit with thermonuclear weapons. Many of these according to the sensors are enhanced radiations devices similar to the neutron bombs of the nineteen eighties. However this, the second planet of the main star system of this cluster has been completely sterilized using nuclear weapons." An image of a new planet filled the display of the tactical table.

Then she shifted the image to show the entire primary system of the cluster. "This is the primary system of the four. Its primary is a main sequence star exactly like Sol. It has seven planets, four of which are earthlike or near earthlike worlds. The second and third of these worlds, orbit a common bray point. One is a planet similar to Earth but the water to land ratio is nearly sixty-forty where Earth's is closer to seventy-thirty. The other planet is a dry world and mostly desert like Abydos was. Now the fourth world is in a closer orbit to the primary than our Mars is and climate wise it is similar to Russia."

This time the image focused in on the planet the Colonials knew as Tauron. The sensor imagery showed a world in flames. "From our sensor data this is pretty much the condition on every world. The estimated casualty rates are staggering. Given that our Earth has a population nearing seven billion I can only guess that the population of this system prior to this attack was at most twelve times Earths, but perhaps slightly less. I'm guessing from sensor readings that the loss of at least human life in this cluster is in the tens of billions." Though she was trying to deliver a professional report on what her sensor scans and communications intercepts had discovered. Satterfield was visibly shaken by what she learned. She wanted to find the Officers' Head and empty her guts into a toilet.

Satterfield looked around the table and said in a voice about to break from what she's learned, "Sirs, Ma'am, Senator, Commissioner we have a genocide in progress and we are going to be powerless to stop it." Then she asked for them to excuse her, "I need to compose myself. I'm trying not to lose my breakfast."

_**Combat Information Center, Battlestar Galactica**_

COL Saul Tigh rushed into the CIC fastening his tunic as he approached the Tactical Plot Table and Commander Adama. Adama handed him a hard copy of the Picon Fleet Headquarters warning order. Saul took it and read it as CMDR Adama picked up a handset from the side of tactical table and held it like a microphone. Saul's face paled as he felt the alcohol in his system suddenly get metabolized. "This has to be a joke, a retirement prank, they're pulling your leg!" he said looking at his long-time friend. The look from Adama said otherwise.

"I don't think so Saul," Adama said as he signaled for Petty Officer First Class Dualla to connect him ship wide. Then he said, "Someone get Kara Thrace out of the Brig!" He cleared his throat and said, "This is the Commander. Moments ago, this ship received word of a Cylon attack against our home worlds is underway. We do not know the size or the disposition or the strength of the enemy forces. But all indications point..." He looked around the CIC seeing stunned faces looking his way before saying, "to a massive assault against Colonial defenses. Admiral Nagala has taken personal command of the fleet aboard the Battlestar Atlantia, following complete destruction of Picon Fleet Headquarters in the first wave of the attacks. How, why ..." He took a breath and continued saying, "doesn't really matter now. What does matter is that, as of this moment, we are at war. You've trained for this. You're ready for this. Stand to your duties, trust your fellow shipmates and we'll all get through this. Further updates as we get them. Thank you."

CMDR Adama then turned to Saul, "If we're in a shooting war we need something to shoot. Find me some bullets Saul."

Saul nodded, "I'll check the depot reports and see what I can find." Then COL Tigh went over to a set of binders on a nearby table and began leafing through them.


	2. Chapter 2

From the Frying Pan into the Fire

_By_

_Denise Hemmingway_

Author's Notes:

• This story is based on the premier of Stargate: Universe, the pilot miniseries of Battlestar Galactica: The Reimagined Series, and the television movie Battlestar Galactica: The Plan.

• I own none of these franchises; they are the properties of MGM, SyFy, Ronald D. Moore for nBSG and Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper for SG: U.

• The story begins at the beginnings for both series, but will be entirely an alternate universe from the canon ones.

Chapter Two:

CFB Galactica moments after a major attack by Cylon Raiders:

It had been an hour after they got the Vipers all transferred from the Starboard Hangar Bay to the Port one. There had been a deadly fifteen minute fur ball of a dog fight around the Galactica. A nuclear missile had made it through the Viper screen and detonated on the forward end of the Port Flight Pod. Now Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace did a fly-by of the forward end of the Port Flight Pod. There were ruptures in the hull of the pod from near the opening to the Flight Deck running for nearly one fourth of its upper length. "Galactica, Starbuck you have multiple ruptures in the hull plating along the upper forward end of Port Flight Pod with several plasma fires erupting from them. Do you copy Galactica?" She was aghast at the extent of the damage the Cylon nuclear anti-ship missile did. She saw the flash frozen corpses of several crewmen floating from the rents in the skin of Galactica. "Galactica, Starbuck did you copy last?" She cruised by as slow as she could and as close as she could.

Starbuck could see the frosted clouds of quick frozen gasses escaping from where there were no fires and the jets of flame from where the compartments alit were exposed to the vacuum of space. Those fires still burned because they were being fed oxygen from nearby compartments. "Galactica, Starbuck you need to get someone to close all airtight hatches forward of frame forty and aft of frame twenty five if you want to contain this fire, how copy, over?"

CIC CFB Galactica:

The atmosphere of the CIC was one of controlled chaos surrounded by utter bedlam. Adama could hear Starbuck giving her report based on her fly-by, but he wanted to hear what Damage Control had to say, "Damage Control Report!"

LSO Captain Aaron Kelly was the DCO or Damage Control Officer he and Chief Petty Officer Galen Tyrol were at the DCB or Damage Control Board. For the compartments between frame forty and twenty-five along the anterior side forward of the Port Flight Pod the lights were flashing red indicating that those areas were damaged and some were exposed to space. "It's like Starbuck says we have areas between frame forty and twenty-five with hull breeches and in the compartments just to the interior of those we have fires threatening to ignite fuel lines and ammunition bunkers!" Fear could be heard under Kelly's voice as he tried to give the DCR or Damage Control Report as concisely, accurately, and professionally as he could.

Adama looked to his XO, COL Saul Tigh, "Get over there and take charge Saul." Saul looked over to where Kelly and Tyrol were trying to bring order to the shear terrifying chaos they faced. He looked back with a terrified look on his face to Adama. Adama saw the hesitation in Saul's eyes, "Look, you're either the XO or you're not!" he said in hushed but urgent tones while gritting his teeth. Adama had crack some ribs when he slammed against the tactical table because of the shock wave from the nuclear explosion.

Saul nodded and rushed over to the DCB. Looking from Kelly to Tyrol he said only one word, "Report!" Then the Kelly began to show him where the fires were on the deck plan of the flight pod on the DCB. Kelly said, "All automated fire suppression systems in that area were off-line and the Damage Control Parties were forced into using hand held fire suppression equipment." He looked between the two men as they argued over what to do about containing the fires. Then he looked back over to the Commander, but Adama was busy trying to fight the battle Galactica was engaged in locally with the Cylons.

Fed up with the bickering between the junior officer and the senior NCO, Saul said with a bit of anger providing an edge to his words, "Seal all air-tight compartments aft of Frame Twenty-Five and forward of Frame Forty, then vent those between to space we need to put out those fires before they reach the fuel lines and ammunition bunkers!"

Tyrol exploded then, "I've got a hundred people in there fighting the fires! Give them another minute to get out of there! Godsdamnit sir we're going to lose a lot of people if we do that!" Saul looked at him sternly and shook his head.

"We'll lose the whole ship if those fires reach the full! We don't have any Godsdamned minute to spare for your people to try to contain this we've run out of time!" Saul was seething as he said that and when he finished he was still puffing out angered breaths.

Galen Tyrol and Aaron Kelly were taken aback by the XO's outburst to them and Tyrol took the handset he was using as a microphone and passed on the orders to the DC Parties working the fires giving them the orders to evacuate. As he did that, CAPT Kelly activated the automated systems that sealed the areas off between the two frames 25 and 40 and initiated the venting of the atmosphere in the compartments between to space.

Starbuck's Viper outside the Port Flight Pod:

Starbuck watched in horror as the flames sputtered out and multiple bodies were ejected into space as the atmosphere in the areas vented to space shot them out like a large caliber air gun. Some of those that were shot into space weren't dead yet and suffered the fate of rapid decompress. She cringed and said a silent pray to her matron goddesses to take the souls of those sacrificed to save the ship and the rest of the crew.

"Galactica to all Vipers return to home… I repeat Galactica to all Vipers return to home…" the voice of PO1C Dualla over the wireless relayed orders to land. Starbuck had some difficulty flying her Mk II Viper, one of the twenty she and the pilots left behind when Ripper took the last full squadron of Mk VII Vipers back to Caprica for reassignment had pressed into service from the Museum squadron in the Starboard Flight Pod. Adama ordered her to put these birds back into the game because one, they were fully restored and two, the Chief could fuel and arm them from stores in the Port Flight Pod. She knew her bird had taken some hits during the fur ball with the Cylon Raiders and that the Cylons tried to use the same trick with her squadron as they had with Ripper's. Only in her case as well as the rest of her squadron it didn't work. The malware attack didn't work with her Viper or the rest of the Mk IIs so the only losses in her squadron were from ship-to-ship combat.

Starbuck fought her plane all the way to the rear opening of the Port Flight Deck. It was a battle to get her safely on the deck and she was sweating bullets as she had to manhandle the craft on to the deck. Unlike on Earth's nautical Aircraft Carriers, the Colonial Battlestars' flight decks used a magnetic retarding system rather than a series of cables and a tail hook. Still even in space the flight decks will be moving when a pilot attempts to land his or her craft on it. Thus it takes a greater degree of skill to land on a carrier than on a dry land air strip.

Added to the moving flight deck Starbuck's Viper had taken damage during the dogfight. Luckily in space she didn't have to deal with undulating waves as Earth's naval aviators had to when landing on their ships. Usually she had to deal with her ship moving at a steady rate of forward motion, but in this case the Galactica was still undergoing damage control operations and the ship was still in a slow clockwise lateral spin. Starbuck's problem was that she had to not only adjust her sped for the forward motion, but she had to adjust for the spin too.

Starbuck gritted her teeth as she came in for her landing. She managed to live up to her reputation and got her bird down. The magnetic retarders got a positive lock on to her landing gear and she stopped with meters to spare before the forward end of the landing bay. Then she felt the tug as the magnetic tug below the deck hooked up to the landing gear and steered her to the nearest aircraft elevator that led down to the Hanger Bay. Once on the platform of the elevator she noticed the directional change as the lift's deck loaded into the air lock between the Landing Bay and the Hangar Bay.

Finally the lower door opened after the ride down and Starbuck's Viper was pulled from the airlock by a deck mule and was taken to a maintenance bay along the interior bulkhead of the Hangar Bay. A deckhand brought over a ladder and then he opened her cockpit. Starbuck unlatched her helmet, took it off, and then took off her flight gloves. As she climbed up out of her cockpit Chief Tyrol came over to inspect the condition of her Viper. "What in Hades' name did you do to my Viper sir?" Chief Tyrol said as he looked at the back of her plane.

The vertical stabilizer was shot to pieces and the upper engine was blown with pieces of cowling mission and tubes and wires hanging in every which direction. "Starbuck, how did you manage to fly that back Lieutenant?" Chief Tyrol said as the pilot climbed out onto the ladder resting against her plane. Starbuck looked back seeing the damage and her face grew paler than normal. The damage shocked her as much as it did the Deck Chief. In her mind she couldn't fathom just how she managed to fly the Viper back with damage like it had now. The control surface of the vertical stabilizer was missing half its mass. She had only two engines left working. The stabilizer flap wasn't an issue in vacuum flight as much as the directional thrusters were, but somehow the ones in the aft section of the engine compartment were destroyed when the upper engine took the hit that wrecked it.

"I don't want to think about it right now Chief," Starbuck said looking in shock at the rear of her plane, "Just get it fixed. I don't think we'll be able to get by without it if things continue as they're going. We'll need all of our planes." She got down from the ladder and stuffed her gloves into her helmet. She began to shake and just said, "Frak!"

Ragnar Anchorage, upper atmosphere Ragnar Gas Giant:

Col. Samantha Carter was walking through the corridors of the massive space station located within a pocket of vacuum within the huge gas giant. The space station looked like it was a pre-positioning equipment site. There weren't any people on board or so they had thought until they found the man named Leoben Conoy trying to scavenge through an ammunitions bunker.

With to her were Col. Telford, Lt. Gen. O'Neill and a squad of Marines from the Hammond's Ship's Troops Detachment. Now they also had Mr. Conoy with them and though she could speak Modern Greek, Leoben's dialect was slightly accented and sounded as if he could have come from Thessalonica. "So Mister Conoy, just why were you on this station all alone anyways?" Col. Carter asked him.

Leoben Conoy had been sent to the Colonial Fleet Anchorage at Ragnar to delay any escaping ships so that the Cylon fleet could catch and destroy them. Now though he was sure that these humans weren't Colonials. When they talked among themselves they used a language he never heard before. The when the few that understood him talked to him like Col. Carter the commander of the Gunstar sized ship docked next to his small freighter they spoke what sounded like Caprican, but it was different. He could understand it after a fashion, but still it wasn't a language that originated in the Colonies.

The one he understood the best was a twin to the Eights. Major Satterfield had been able to speak with him using a dialect of this Greek she, Cols. Carter and Young each spoke that was close to Caprican. She looked enough like an Eight that Conoy wondered if somehow the Cylons had somehow found their planet and hadn't targeted it for some reason. The group he was with walked back to the air lock they were docked to and invited him into their ship. Col. Carter said it was so that they could talk in a more comfortable environment. "Yes by all means Colonel I'm not opposed to talking in a more comfortable place. I mean the only time the Fleet has anyone here is when they're rotating stock in these anchorages," Leoben said as they crossed through the air lock from the station and into their ship.

USS George S. Hammond, Ragnar Anchorage, Ragnar, Cyrannus Cluster:

Leoben was surprised by the interior of the ship. It was obviously a warship, but it was much lighter inside than those of the Colonial Fleet. That was when as he took in all he saw that he noticed that the Marines had a subdued embroidered flag patch on their right and left sleeves. The flag was in tan and brown, but it had thirteen alternating brown and tan stripes with a tan field with fifty black stars in the upper front corner of the flag. Then he noticed that all the stenciled location names weren't in Caprican or even Piconese.

"Colonel Carter, would you mind telling me just what Colony your people are from?" Leoben asked as they finally entered what looked like a conference room. As he asked he noticed that there were some narrow windows. At first he revised his thoughts that this was a military ship, but then he noticed just how thick the windows were. They were nearly as thick as the outer hull of the ship. In the room there was a blue and white flag where the white was a stylized map of a planet surrounded by a wreath of olive branches. Then there was a flag in red, white, and blue that looked like the patches on the Marines' sleeves. These bracketed a large flat screen television at the aft bulkhead of the room. The flat screen television itself was on and a rotating screen saver of a crest similar to one of the patches on the flight suits and uniforms of Col. Carter and her people was visible. In the corners there were potted plants, possibly small trees or shrubs. There was a long meeting table in the center and a smaller table along the interior bulkhead of the room. On either side of another small table at the forward bulkhead there were two more flags. One was light grayish blue with the crest of an organization on it and the other was similar, but it had the crest that matched the patch on Col. Carter's flight suit.

Col. Carter looked at Mr. Conoy and with a serious expression said, "I didn't say, Mister Conoy." Then with her right she indicated he should take a seat across from her at the table. "First off we just arrived here after one of our outpost colonies was destroyed by a fleet of ships." As she said this she picked up a remote and activated the flat screen. An image looking like gun camera footage came up. In the image there were three Baseships or Basestars visible. The starfish or asterisk shapes distinguished these ships to Conoy as the latest generation of Cylon capital ships. He shifted nervously in his seat.

The footage ran long enough to show the bombardment of a Gemenon desert-like planet. As the footage ran Conoy saw a battle between fighters that resembled Cylon War of Liberation Raiders, but each one of these had a two man human crew. The fighters were holding their own against the new model Raiders. Also he saw nuclear explosions among the waves of Raiders that reduced their numbers greatly. While Mr. Conoy watched the footage of the Battle of Icarus as seen from the view point of the Hammond's external cameras and sensors Carter noted his reactions. This man knows what these ships are and who they belong too, she wrote down on a legal sized pad before her. Major Kevin Marks who had set up the Ward Room for this meeting stood behind Col. Carter and just squeezed lightly her shoulder to indicate he agreed.

Conoy though intrigued by the attack and subsequent defeat of a fleet of Cylon Basestars on a distant planet with the end result being that the planet itself was destroyed knew that Cylon weapons weren't that powerful. They could irradiate and glass the surface of a planet if they desired, but turn one in to an asteroid belt was beyond their capabilities. What had him more concerned was that this ship wasn't much bigger than a Colonial Fleet Gunstar or the escort ships for the larger Battlestars and yet it destroyed four of six Basestars from one of the Cylon fleets plus their squadrons of Raiders.

As Conoy was watching the video of the attack and then destruction of this particular fleet Col. Telford and Col. Young came in with a couple of prisoners captured prior to Icarus' explosion. One was a blond woman that could have graced the pages of any fashion magazine on Earth and the other was the twin of the man that introduced himself as Leoben Conoy. The footage came to an end as it showed a hyperspace window opening up in front of the Hammond and the ship entered the fissure in the fabric of space. From footage edited into the whole video Conoy saw the death of the desert planet and the energy wave that followed this very ship into the fissure in space.

Once Col. Carter was sure that Conoy's attention was back on her, she directed his attention toward Colonels Telford and Young and the two people escorted with them by a squad of Hammond now reinforced Ship's Troops Detachment. "I'm sure Mister Conoy you know your brother Two and sister Six here," Carter asked giving Conoy a look that said, 'Yes, I know what you are Mister Conoy.' Conoy's face gave away his recognition of his brother within his model and the Model Six with him. "I see from your reaction Mister Conoy that you indeed recognized Mister Two and Miss Six. So just why did the Cylons attack Earth's outpost on the planet Icarus?"

Conoy did a double take at the mention of the legendary Earth and then looked at the blond human Colonel looking at him, "Did you say Earth Colonel?" He looked now into eyes that have seen much tragedy, conflict, and yet much that was beautiful beyond belief or description. Her eyes had seen things his most likely never will, he thought as his mind was racing through just what to say. The Plan wasn't to attack anywhere else other than the Twelve Colonies of Kobol for until the arrival of this very ship no one knew that there was another human civilization out there. Then with his greater perception he sensed something else. He sensed that this woman was part of the Whole and was more than she seemed. Just who is this woman? Conoy thought as he looked into her eyes again seeing that she too was somehow connected to the Stream and she was both on the shore and within the flow as well.

"Until you asked your question Colonel Carter we, the Cylon Collective didn't know Earth even existed. I have no answer for you as to why a fleet of Cylon ships attacked an Earth colony. Our argument is only with the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, our original creators," Conoy said as he tried to gauge Colonel Carter's connection to the stream. He also saw that the other two Cylons were now being seated on either side of him.

Leonard Conoy, Leoben's brother looked at him and said, "Leo tell her what she wants to know. We weren't prepared for what we saw at Icarus and we are the only two to live through the destruction of our attack group and their colony from our side. These humans are more powerful than the Colonials and we shouldn't have pissed them off. They are like us in that they live both within the stream and alongside it."

Six then added, "They aren't the Colonials, the Tau'ri as they told us they are called are the Fifth Race and the children of the First Ones, the Ancients, and the Lords of Kobol." Then Six looked over at Col. Carter before saying, "She, Colonel Carter is one of the first to step off their planet into the greater stream of the universe. She knows of the Lords of Kobol and their race because she has been in the presence of some of their people in the past." Then Six looked back toward her brother Leoben. "We are at the end of the worlds here. Colonel Carter didn't know it until now, but she will play a part in what is to come, brother."

Carter looked at the blond known as Six and the two men that could be twins. She shook her head as Col. Telford and Col. Young also looked at their three Cylon prisoners of war. Speaking clearly and with authority she took back the conversation, "Despite whatever metaphysical experience maybe encompassing all of this, we, Cylon and Earth as of Icarus are at war. I don't know what the Alterans have to do with all of this, but if these Colonials need our assistance I am going to give all that I can." As she spoke Dr. Rush and 2LT Wallace came in looking as if they had something new to share with her and the other two Colonels.

2LT Wallace spoke up first of the two, "Colonel Carter may we speak privately in the companion way?" He looked at the Cylons then at Carter finally nodding with his head toward the corridor outside the Ward Room. He looked like he had important information that should not be shared with their prisoners. Carter nodded.

Carter said as she got up, "Colonel Telford you have the room. Make sure our guest, don't leave. Don't give them anything they can use if we are captured by their brethren." She stood and walked out of the room with 2LT Wallace and Dr. Rush. Outside the Ward Room they were met by Camilla Wray. She looked at Rush, Wray, and Wallace then spoke again, "All right what is so important that my debriefing of the prisoners had to be interrupted?"

Rush spoke first, "We got a reply from Homeworld Command to the subspace report you sent to Earth after we exited from hyperspace into this system." Carter nodded remembering that shortly after they left hyperspace she ordered that a databurst with her report be sent back to Earth telling what happened at Icarus. Rush continued with his report and looked like he was barely holding back as if he knew a piece of news that would be affecting the rest of the mission. He spoke saying while holding a piece of paper in his right hand, "Colonel Carter, you've been promoted to Brigadier General and placed in command of the entire Hammond Expedition. Colonel Young is placed in command of the Hammond and Colonel Telford is now Commander Air Group of the Hammond. Ms. Wray is the diplomatic specialist of the expedition and I've been made the science specialist. According to HWSC we're to scout out Cylon forces and do what damage we can until Earth's Fleet can be mobilized and sent to aid us. Also you are to make contact with any and all potential allies within our new area of operations."

CIC Galactica, after the flight pod fires were extinguished:

At the damage control board Chief Tyrol stared coldly at the XO and said flatly, "There were a lot of rooks in there sir." He looked at the XO with daggers shooting from his eyes.

All that Col. Tigh did was to say in a flat emotionless voice, "After today no one's a rook Chief." Then he turned away to finish finding bullets for the Galactica to shoot. Chief Tyrol just stared after him disbelieving the Colonel had just said that before he followed the Colonel over to the Commander so he could vent his displeasure at Tigh's choices concerning the fires.

First Adama was listening to Col. Tigh giving him the count on the dead and wounded. There were eighty-five killed and numerous injured. Most of the injuries were burns of various degrees suffered by those that fought the flight pod fires. Second Tigh explained that Ragnar Anchorage had ship's stores and munitions, enough to restock the Galactica to her full capacity including nuclear ordnance for Galactica's main guns.

Adama signaled Lt. Felix Gaeta to come over. "Lieutenant I want you to plot a course to Ragnar Station. Put us as close as possible to the opening into the storm. Do this manually and alone," Adama said looking into Gaeta's eyes with a stern and determined expression on his face.

Gaeta nodded saying, "Yes sir." He turned away and walked back over to his station to plot the jump. As he left Chief Tyrol walked up to Adama fuming over what just occurred in Damage Control. Adama saw a man seething with loads of anger and a desire to kill someone. For a few moments Adama stared at the man as he vented his anger over the XO's decision to vent the areas afire to space and the loss of several of his people.

Adama looked Tyrol in the eyes and with his best command presence he coldly and softly told him that what Tigh had done was to save the ship. If they had taken the time to fight the fires manually the fires would have reached the fuel bunkers and magazines in the Port Flight Pod. "Now Chief if those blow they take out the entire ship! Compose yourself and command your troops I need my fighters ready to fight. What the Colonel did was to do his job as the XO, now I want you to do your job as the Flight Deck Chief and later worry about being my Command Master Chief."

Tyrol saluted the Commander and left the CIC to take charge of the Deck Hands. After Tyrol left Adama returned to plotting out what he was going to do next so he could fight his ship against the Cylons. First was get to Ragnar and load up on ammunition, food, and spare parts. Second was to find the nearest Cylon strike force and make them pay, pay for their sneak attack upon the Colonies. Tigh came up alongside him on his right with the binder showing just what Ragnar had available. Adama looked at the list thinking that whoever maintained the Fleet's Anchorages planned it seemed for ships to find the stations loaded just in case like today there was a Colonial wide disaster.

As soon as Gaeta had the jump plotted he came over and told Adama. Adama ordered Gaeta to input the data into the jump computer and initiate the jump to Ragnar on his mark. Adama watched the second hand on the CIC's clock as it ticked off the seconds leading up to the jump. Gaeta had Dualla give him a ship wide commlink and he said, "Attention all hands prepare for FTL jump on the Commander's Mark!"

In the seconds that ticked away people across the ship got ready for the first combat jump in over forty years of the service of the Galactica. It was her first combat FTL jump since the end of the First Cylon War. The second hand ticked away to the last second and Adama looked over to Gaeta and said calmly, "Jump."

Gaeta turned the key and pushed the control button initiating the jump. Across the ship first everything seemed to stretch only to compress back upon itself. Down in the Port Hangar Bay while taking a position bracing herself on the floor near a support frame Specialist Cally Henderson openly spoke what she thought everyone must be thinking, "I hate this part," with a cringing look on her face and a similar sound in her voice.

In the blink of an eye the Galactic disappears from the vicinity of the broken planetoid that was to be its station after becoming a museum and reappeared exactly over the mouth of the passage into the upper atmosphere of the blue massive gas giant called Ragnar. Gaeta looked up from his sensors after the jump smiling and said, "We've come out of jump in a geosynchronous orbit over the gateway to Ragnar Station sir!" Around him his staff started to hug and cheer him. Gaeta looked over to Adama who smiled at him nodding.

Adama simply said next, "All right people let's get the Galactica down to Ragnar Station and docked. Then I want Chief Tyrol, a couple of squads of Marines, and a team of his Deck Hands to take charge of transferring stores and ammunition from the stations bunkers into our magazines and holds."

USS George S. Hammond docked with Ragnar Station

Major Jenifer Hailey the Hammond's Chief Science Office and Squadron Commander of the 1st Fighter Squadron was monitoring the sensors station and she detected a spatial anomaly just outside the atmosphere of the gas giant, "Major Marks I've detected a spatial anomaly just over the mouth of this calm area. Wait a minute I'm detecting a huge ship moving down the passageway into the station's location."

Marks called up the sensor readings on his console at the pilot's station. Knowing that Brigadier General Carter would want to know this along with Colonel Young he activated his stations commlink, "General Carter and Colonel Young to the Bridge!" Marks then began to monitor the progress of the unidentified ship down the passage that led to their current position. The sensor readings read a ship that was just over a kilometer and a half long or perhaps six times the length of the Hammond. Also the readings showed the ship was nearly than much more massive than Hammond too.

CIC Galactica

Lt. Gaeta's attention was brought to the DRADIS monitor at his station by an alert tone. "DRADIS contact in the vicinity of Ragnar Station! I'm detecting a small ship of unknown configuration in close proximity to the Anchorage!" Gaeta said looking up from his station and toward the Commander. He then upon seeing that the Commander wanted to know more checked his readings from the DRADIS and shouted out the bearing and coram to the ship. Then as more information was displayed he said, "The ship's about a sixth the size of the Galactica at two hundred twenty-five meters long by ninety-five meters wide, and seventy-five meters high. Further DRADIS contacts detected! I'm reading in close proximity to the unidentified ship two smaller ships approximately Viper or Raptor sized. It could be a CAP around the ship."

Adama looked across at Gaeta and flatly said in a booming command voice, "We can't jump in here so Petty Officer Dualla, hail them on all channels! I want to know just what they're doing here." Then turning to Col. Tigh he said in the same tone, "Put Starbuck and a wingman in the air and have them get a Mark One Eyeball sensing of the contacts."

Tigh nodded, and said, "Yes sir." Tigh picked up a handset from the side of the plot table and said, "Pilots' Ready Room, XO, Starbuck you and another pilot are to scramble and take a look at the contacts Gaeta's spotted on DRADIS. The Commander wants an assessment ASAP!" On the other end a crisp yes sir came back and Tigh looked at Adama, "Starbuck is on her way to the Hangar Deck with a wingman. They'll be launching soon."

Starbuck's Viper minutes later:

Starbuck had catapulted out of the launch tube and then vectored toward Gaeta's DRADIS contacts near Ragnar Station. As she cleared the bow of the Galactica she saw what looked like a scaled down Battlestar with a long neck ending in a blunt angular head and a wide rear main body with two flight pods, one on either side. "Slick, follow me in," Starbuck said to her current wingman as she hit her thrusters to drive toward the ship in the distance close to Ragnar.

Starbuck looked at the ship; it was a dark gray color, darker than the gray used by the Colonial Fleet for their Battlestars and other ships. Her DRADIS barely detected it. Also though she saw them patrolling around the strange ship the two fighters the size of Raptors didn't show on her DRADIS. She looked back and forth between her DRADIS display and what she saw with her eyes. The two unidentified fighters were a darker shade of gray than their Mothership. They had forward sweeping wings and slightly resembled the First Cylon War Era Raiders displayed in the museum in the Starboard Flight Pod's hangar deck.

As Starbuck piloted her ship closer, but still at a safe distance, she hoped, from the strange ship and its fighters she saw that the fighters had dual occupancy cockpits. "Galactica, Starbuck, I have Mark One Eyeball on the ship and two fighters. The ship looks like a baby Battlestar, but the fighters resemble the First War era Cylon Raiders. The fighters have forward swept wings that could handle atmospheric flight better than a Viper or a Raptor. Speaking of Raptors the total size of the fighters is about the same. The fighters look to be two seaters."

Starbuck took further sightings on the three ships she circled closer and reported what she was seeing, "I'm making a closer fly by. I can look into the canopies of the fighters. The pilots look human, only they look to be wearing flight suits and helmets like those used once by atmospheric pilots on Caprica and the other Colonies. Ah Oh it looks like they've taken an interest in me and are closing in on Slick and I!" As she leveled off her Viper into a wary, but not too hostile position between the Galactica and the strange ships the two larger fighters began to close with her and Slick's Viper Mk-IIs at a rate of speed neither pilot or plane could match. "Gods these birds are fast!" she shouted over the wireless without realizing she said her comment out loud.

F/A 302D 3420 First Fighter Squadron USAF:

Major Sharon Satterfield had been in the SGC since she finished USAF ROTC at the University of Colorado's Denver campus tagged to be a linguist and intelligence officer. Prior to that, Satterfield had been an enlisted language specialist with Air Force Intelligence. Now she was Hailey's XO in the First Fighter Squadron along with being one of now Brig. Gen. Carter's linguists and intell specialists.

Satterfield had been adopted as a late teenager from an orphanage in South Korea by American parents. Her father had been an Army Major at the time serving with Korean Support Command and her mother was a linguist with the US State Department. Her parents traveled the world in the service of the United States and the international travel got into Shelly's blood. Now she was the farthest from home she ever gone before. She looked out her cockpit's canopy at the two dart-like fighters now taking up station between her and the huge whale like starship with two out rigger flight pods, one on each side of the ship.

"Hammond, Squeaker I have visual on two dart-like fighters. They look to be human in origin. They have a single occupancy cockpit and their pilots look to be human. They have semi-delta shaped wings with what appear to be roughly thirty millimeter cannons at the wing roots. There are three engines aft and a vertical stabilizer. Their mothership dwarfs us and even Free Jaffa or Lucian Ha'Tak motherships. The mothership looks kind of like a space going whale with two out-rigger flight pods, a bow head that resembles an alligator's head and an engine pod at the stern of the ship. The fighters are pacing Duster and me," Satterfield said.

Bridge USS Hammond, Ragnar Station, Gas Giant Ragnar, Cyrannus Cluster:

Col. Young took the Command Chair from Marks and listened as Satterfield described their new encounter. He flipped the switches on the Command Chair so he could speak with Satterfield, "Squeaker, Hammond, Major, have the fighters made any hostile moves yet?" He was looking at the holographic HUD before him and out the main view port of the Bridge he had a fair idea of the locations of the newcomers.

Major Tyrone Franklin, the Hammond's First Officer came up with the reports from the other stations on the Bridge and Hammond's other divisions. "Colonel, General," Maj. Franklin said to Young and Carter. "Here are the reports from the Ship's Divisions. Colonel Telford reports that including Major Satterfield's CAP the ship's Air Group is ready for duty. Captain Hayward, the Company Commander of the Marines begs to report that He's worked in the survivors of Icarus Base's Marine Detachment into his command and that the Cylon prisoners are again secure within the Brig. The Ship's CMO has finished her scans of the Crew and only Major Satterfield has markers similar to our guests in the Brig."

Carter looked at the HUD seeing the icon representing Satterfield's F/A302 and nodded, "Satterfield has a proven record with the SGC, Major so I'm not recommending that Colonel Young remove her from duty. However perhaps we can use this information against our guests. If Satterfield can establish a rapport with them perhaps we can learn more about the Cylons, both the Machine ones and the humanoid cybernetic ones."

Young looked over to Maj. Franklin and Gen. Carter saying, "I agree. Satterfield as far as the Cylons are concerned is our Ace in the hole. So far we've not had her work directly with them and Leoben Conoy has only seen her from a distance. Though, when he did I noticed that he recognized her. I think there is a version of humanoid Cylon that resembles Satterfield. Now as to why she shares markers with them is a mystery that I want Major Canfield to look into, but she's to do so discreetly. Have First Lieutenant Johansen assist. Like General Carter I know that Satterfield has a spotless record with the SGC. I even had her under my command when I led one of the Stargate Teams. She's a good soldier, airman, and officer. I don't care if she indeed is one of these Cylons; we all know that the United States has a history of having excellent soldiers and officers whose lands of origin were often at war with us. Those same officers and soldiers did their duties and never betrayed us. Satterfield is loyal to the United States and to Earth."

"Yes sir," Maj. Franklin said, "I tell Major Canfield to get on the scans and to have First Lieutenant Johansen assist." Then Maj. Franklin begged his leave and went to carry out his new orders. Young and Carter went back to monitoring the interaction between Satterfield and the new fighters.

Maj. Marks had been monitoring the communications systems from the Pilot's and Weapons Officer's workstation when he was alerted to an incoming message originating from the huge ship that had just entered the vicinity of the space station. "General Carter, Colonel Young I'm receiving hails from the unidentified ship on all radio frequencies. I'm running it through the translation system now." Then as soon as he had indications that the translation was complete he piped it to the Bridge's main speakers.

"This is the Colonial Battlestar Galactica to unknown ship identify yourself and state your intentions otherwise we will fire upon you. I repeat this is the Colonial Battlestar Galactica to unknown ship identify yourself and state your intentions otherwise will fire upon you," said a woman's voice over the Bridge's speakers.

Marks taking the initiative since the chief Science Officer was working at her position and the Commander First Fighter Squadron and the Senior Linguist was now out flying CAP. He ran a linguistics analysis of the language the message came in. As he was also monitoring the ship's sensors from his station the indicator for the linguistics analyzer showed it was finished. "Sir, Ma'am the linguistics analyzer says she was speaking a dialect of Greek similar to that spoken by our Cylon guests."

Brig. Gen. Carter looked at Young then to Marks, "Connect me with them Major." Marks did as she asked, then indicated to her that Carter had a link to the Galactica. She took in a breath, composed herself, first contacts can be a blessing or a curse, she thought. "Colonial Battlestar Galactica, Brigadier General Samantha Carter United States Air Force Second Space Wing Commanding, I am aboard the USS George S. Hammond my flagship. We have you in visual range. We are here seeking refuge after an attack on one of our colonies by a people calling themselves the Cylons. We are seeking also answers as to why they attacked our forward operating base on the planet we called Icarus. How do you read?"

A few seconds passed then a male voice came over the speakers saying, "General Carter, Commander William Adama, Colonial Battlestar Galactica Commanding, I may have an answer for you as to why the Cylons attacked your colony of Icarus. We can meet on my ship or yours say in an hour?" The man's voice sounded like he had experience and that he spoke with some knowledge that would be useful to her.

Carter replied, "Commander Adama let's meet here on my ship. We have three shall I say guests you may want to question yourself. One hour will be fine, Carter out." Then Carter looked at Young, "Everett you have the Conn, I'll do the meet and great." She left the Bridge wishing she had Daniel Jackson here with her; instead she still had Major General O'Neill, Senator Armstrong, and Camile Wray.


	3. Chapter 3

From the Frying Pan into the Fire

_By_

_Denise Hemmingway_

Author's Notes:

• This story is based on the premier of Stargate: Universe, the pilot miniseries of Battlestar Galactica: The Reimagined Series, and the television movie Battlestar Galactica: The Plan.

• I own none of these franchises; they are the properties of MGM, SyFy, Ronald D. Moore for nBSG and Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper for SG: U.

• The story begins at the beginnings for both series, but will be entirely an alternate universe from the canon ones.

Chapter Three

HANGAR ONE ALPHA ON USS GEORGE S. HAMMOND ONE HOUR:

Lieutenant General Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill, Brigadier General Samantha Carter, Commissioner Camile Wray, and Senator Alan Armstrong stood near the air lock leading back into the main hull of the Hammond. They watched as a small shuttle craft that resembled a bug landed and then towed to their area.

The small ship was parked in a maintenance bay near them and the gull wing like port side hatch opened. From the hatch a four man fire team of Marines in black BDU style fatigues with black load bearing vests and ballistic helmets took up protective positions around their ship. After the Marines took up their perimeter around the ship an older man in a duty dress uniform stepped out followed by two pilots. The first pilot was a younger woman with short cropped hair and the other also a woman had slightly longer brunette hair.

As the guests from the GALACTICA stepped out of their shuttlecraft Major Satterfield and her wingman landed their F/A 302s after being relieved by another pair this time from VMF 422. Satterfield and her wingman taxied and parked their 302s into an adjoining maintenance bay. Once the two 302s parked they secured their ships, opened their canopies, and exited their planes.

Satterfield ordered her wingman, his rear seater, and hers to run post flight checks on their planes and report any needed maintenance to the deck crew. Then she marched over to the reception committee. As she walked over she removed her helmet and placed in her helmet bag.

It was Lieutenant Kara Thrace who saw the female pilot walking toward the group waiting to meet the Old Man. "Racetrack isn't that Boomer?" she said to her ECO for this flight. The brunette looked over nodding. For the Earther pilot looked just like their now missing Junior Lieutenant and Raptor Pilot Sharon Valerii.

"She looks just like her Starbuck, a lot like her," answered Lieutenant Margaret Edmondson. Then Racetrack called out, "Hey Boomer what are you doing getting out of an Earther fighter?" The woman she addressed stopped in her tracks at hearing a language she hadn't heard in a long, long time.

"You must have me mistaken for someone else. I am Major Sharon Satterfield Deputy Commander of the First Fighter Squadron and my callsign is Squeaker not Boomer," said Satterfield not only as she got closer, but in the same language the brunette pilot spoke to her in.

Generals O'Neill and Carter saw this and deduced immediately just what this implied. "Carter, get Squeaker over here to translate for us," O'Neill said. Carter nodded and gestured for Satterfield to join the delegation from the HAMMOND as they met with the delegation from the GALACTICA.

Satterfield came up to the two Generals, the Commissioner, and the Senator and saluted. It was Brig. Gen. Carter who spoke, "Major I need you to translate for us as it seems you know their language. Don't worry we'll discuss this later as we may have another duty for you when we resume the interrogations of our prisoners of war."

"Yes ma'am," Maj Satterfield replied as she stood next to General O'Neill on his right. She looked now toward the older man from the GALACTICA seeing he too recognized her. Someone in his crew must look exactly like her Satterfield thought as the older man looked her straight into the eyes.

Then the older man turned his attention to the rest of the delegation from the HAMMOND and said while saluting, "I am Commander William Adama Commanding Officer of the Colonial Fleet Battlestar GALACTICA, permission to come aboard?" Satterfield translated Adama's words for the Earth delegation.

General O'Neill being the senior Earth officer present returned the salute and said, "Permission granted. I am Lieutenant General Jonathan O'Neill Commanding Officer of Homeworld Security Command." He then introduced Carter, Wray, and Armstrong. Finally he said, "This is Major Sharon Satterfield, Deputy Commanding Officer of the First Fighter Squadron, Intelligence Officer and Deputy Science Officer for the USS HAMMOND and our translator."

Satterfield translated what O'Neill said to Adama. Then she said after O'Neill added, "The General would like to take this meeting into the HAMMOND's Ward Room, if you would just follow us sir." Then Adama gestured for Starbuck and Racetrack to follow him. Satterfield translated his request for his two aviators to follow along as his body guard. O'Neill nodded and said it was ok for them to come. Satterfield translated this back to Adama.

OFFICERS' WARD ROOM USS HAMMOND A FEW MINUTES LATER:

Adama looked a bit surprised to see narrow vertical windows in the ward room. Then he noticed just how thick they were. Colonial warships don't have exterior windows as they are weak points in the ship's hull that could be exploited by an enemy.

Brig. Gen. Carter saw his gaze and his reaction and said, "Besides using a transparent version of our hull armor for the viewports we have shielding to ward off most forms of attacks against our ships. We can get by using windows where other warships can't." Satterfield translated this for Adama and he nodded.

Lt. Gen. O'Neill then said, "Perhaps we should get started." He gestured for everyone to take a seat around the ward room's table. He took the seat at the head with Carter and the rest of the Tau'ri delegation taking the seats to his left and Adama the seat to his right. Satterfield stood behind him and to his right as Adama's two pilots took up positions either side of him.

After several minutes of the Tau'ri explaining what had happened to them and how they got to the Cyrannus Cluster Adama asked, "Can you explain how you have an officer who resembles our Junior Lieutenant Sharon Valerii?" Generals O'Neill and Carter answered yes we can.

Carter then spoke, "Major Sharon Satterfield has a physiology similar to the three Cylons we are holding as prisoners of war. Since she is a loyal officer in the United States Air Force we have not detained her. We figured after seeing the reactions of Leoben and Leonard Conoy and the Six we have as prisoners upon seeing Major Satterfield that she possibly either just by genetic lottery or by design looked like someone they all knew. The Six even called her Eight."

Major Satterfield translated everything Carter said then added, "I knew I was a Cylon all my life. Some years ago a faction of the Cylons after we were taught to create our biological models discovered the real Earth. We had the surviving Seven and placed him up for adoption in an agency in the American state of New York. His name was Daniel and he was adopted by a husband and wife team of archeologists. I was killed and resurrected in a body only matured enough to resemble a human child of fifteen and placed up for adoption in the nation of South Korea. I was adopted by an American couple. My father was an officer in the United States Army and my mother was a member of the United States Foreign Service. I am a naturalized citizen of the United States and a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs."

Satterfield waited for that to sink in then added, "I knew I was a Cylon all along. My mission was to reacquire contact with Doctor Daniel Jackson," she looked then at Generals O'Neill and Carter, "who doesn't know he is not only a Cylon, but the last of his model. I can awaken him if need be, but it was decided to leave him alone. There were too few of our faction who escaped John Cavil's purge so we decided that as long as Daniel was safe on Earth and the Cavil's never learned of the real Earth's existence at least that branch of humanity would be safe from John."

Adama looked at Satterfield then asked as she translated what he said, "So is our Sharon Valerii a Cylon too?" He watched Satterfield translate for the Earth delegation. They looked at her as O'Neill gestured for her to continue.

Looking Adama in the eyes Satterfield said, "Your Sharon Valerii is one of my copies of Cylon. She most likely doesn't know that she is an Eight let alone a Cylon. Since my mission was just to observe I was not placed among the Tau'ri as a sleeper agent. I reported for a time to my command node until I lost contact with them sometime during the Ori War. As I have been a member of Stargate Command since just after graduating from the Air Force Academy I continued in my duties as an officer and soldier of Earth. I would take a bullet for any of the Tau'ri in this ship including the delegation present." She then translated what she told Adama for the benefit of the Generals and the others.

Each in their own language Adama and O'Neill asked, "Why were you assigned to Earth?"

Satterfield steeled herself and said, "I was to once I found Daniel again keep him safe in case John Cavil's faction learned about our deception. We were the last of the Cylons who knew the real mission our parents wanted us to carry out. Since we couldn't very well hide the last of the model Sevens in Colonial society we went coreward and spinward to Earth. Upon reuniting with Daniel I was to protect him. As you know General O'Neill I really didn't need to do that part of my job since my SG team at the time rarely was assigned to accompany you and SG-1. Daniel was in good hands with you, General Carter and Teal'c." She translated what she said for the benefit of the Colonials. "Upon finding out just how large the population of humans was in this galaxy and the Pegasus Galaxy I took up defending humanity rather than just watching them."

"So Sharon, you are a Cylon yet your fight alongside other humans?" Lt. Thrace then asked without waiting for permission from Cmdr. Adama. Satterfield looked at Thrace nodding.

"Yes, there were over the years greater threats than John Cavil's Cylons. I have fought the Goa'uld, the Wraith and the Ori. Now I may have to fight my brothers and sisters as they have though their actions here in the Colonies and at Icarus have declared war on all of humanity," Satterfield said. She added, "The United States has a history of taking in people from other nations and cultures who in turn defend her from enemies when those nations go to war against the U. S. I am just another naturalized citizen though I am a bit more than human. I may be a clone, a cyberneticly enhanced clone granted, but I am still human. I feel, I bleed, I think, and I am loyal to my adoptive people. In this war I will fight alongside the Tau'ri and the Colonials against my brethren. I will even strive to liberate my sisters and brothers from John's evil grip on the Collective." She translated what she said into English for the benefit of the Earth delegation.

Adama took in what she said and then he talked at length with the Earthers. He found out that they were assigned to assist any allies they found here against the Cylons. "How many of these Deep Space Carriers are you sending besides the HAMMOND?" he asked and Satterfield translated.

O'Neill looked him directly in the eyes and said, "We are sending another three, the Odyssey, the Sun Tzu, and the Apollo. We have a small fleet at the moment and have had to fight overmatched for a long time. If it weren't for allies we have closer to home we most likely would have been wasted as a people and a world long ago. We are willing to help you in any way we can. From what our sensor reading indicate your people have taken a real severe beating. All of your habitable worlds are in flames. Your fleet is decimated. You have scattered civilian ships throughout the Cluster being hunted down by wolf packs of the Cylons' fighters. I know from the look in your eyes you want to rearm, reequip and rejoin the fight. The trouble is with as many enemy capital ships as we've detected that would be a long and hard battle that may not end favorably for either of us."

LATER ON THE BRIDGE OF THE HAMMOND:

Cmdr. Adama was given permission to address the surviving Colonial ships after O'Neill convinced him the best thing to do now was to make a strategic withdrawal and seek someplace to rebuild and rearm. O'Neill had shared with him the history of Earth's Second World War and how those who fought against the Axis of Germany, Italy, and Japan had to rebuild after several major defeats. Now the Colonials will have to do the same.

He steeled himself before taking the handset he was offered and using it like a microphone he said, "This is Commander William Adama to all surviving Colonial civilian and military vessels with the death of Admiral Nagala and his taskforce I am taking command of the Fleet. All Colonial ships are to rendezvous and regroup at Ragnar Station." He didn't go into the detail that there was an allied ship waiting at Ragnar with him and the GALACTICA. Nor did he add that he was actually broadcasting to them from that ship.

BRIDGE COLONIAL ONE FORMERLY COLONIAL HEAVY 798 SAME TIME:

Captain Leland Joseph Adama was helping to coordinate the rescue of many civilians from sublight only ships onto FTL equipped ships when the order to rendezvous with the GALACTICA at RAGNAR Station came through. The recently sworn in President Laura Roslin the former Secretary of Education was standing in the small bridge with him and the command crew of COLONIAL ONE.

President Roslin took in a breath then asked to be given a line to Cmdr. Adama. When the Communications Officer and Flight Engineer gave her the ok she took the microphone offered her and said, "Commander Adama, this is President Laura Roslin we are in the midst of search and rescue operations. I want you and any available jump capable ships to assist."

"_President Roslin, Commander Adama I understand, but as of this moment we are resupplying the GALACTICA. I am also in negotiations with a potential ally. It seems we have been discovered by a ship from the Thirteenth Colony, or to put it more precisely the first colony. I gave a briefing to their senior officers and civilian representatives on our situation and background. They in turn briefed me on the nature of the galaxy beyond the Colonies. I would recommend that you gather as many FTL ships as you can. Then get as many people as each can safely hold and jump to Ragnar. We don't have much time. We need to regroup and find a way to deal with this disaster ASAP."_

Roslin didn't know which stunned her more Adama's revelation that there really was a thirteenth or rather who he called the first tribe of humanity or that he wasn't fighting her over the need to get civilians to safety. "Commander after you have the GALACTICA rearmed and resupplied will you be able to jump here and assist with search and rescue operations?" Roslin asked over the wireless.

"_Negative Madame President, I am still in discussions with Generals O'Neill and Carter along with Commissioner Wray and Senator Armstrong about seeking asylum for our people on one of the Tau'ri's colony worlds. We have been discussing the strategic and tactical situation here in the Cyrannus Cluster and it is not tenable. We will have to make a strategic withdrawal to a safe place and rebuild and rearm,"_ said Adama. Roslin took that in and looked over at the Commander's son.

"Commander we will take as many survivors as we can with us and meet you at Ragnar. I don't want to leave anyone behind, but I guess I have to make the hard decisions now," Roslin said.

"_Madame President that is one of the burdens that comes with leadership. You sometimes have to roll a hard six and deal with the consequences later…"_ Lee Adama suddenly interrupted the conversation between the President and his father after being told that a Cylon wolf pack had found them by COLONIAL ONE's Captain.

"Madame President we have to jump now if we are going to save anyone at all. DRADIS has picked up an incoming Cylon Raider Wolf Pack," Capt Adama said. "We're out of time to completely get anyone else off of the STL ships onto FTL ones."

Overhearing his son's report over the open mike Adama said, _"Madame President you need to jump away from there now! Save who you can and get here immediately! You can't save everyone without risking the survivability of us all! That is my advice as your senior military officer President Roslin. Save who you can and get to safety!"_ Roslin just nodded at his words even though she knew he could not see her. With that she had the communications link severed and looked out the view port of the small almost cockpit sized bridge.

"Captain you heard Commander Adama share the coordinates with the rest of the FTL ships and make the jump to Ragnar," Roslin said. "Captain Apollo with me I need to talk with you and get your appraisal of our situation."

REFUGEE FLEET BEFORE THE JUMP TO RAGNAR

In space dozens of ships of every kind were flocked around COLONIAL ONE. Many of the ships were just slower than light interplanetary transports and shuttles. The smaller transports each about the size of a Raptor or one of the larger Colonial Fleet Shuttles docked with faster than light ships in their hangar bays. The larger cargo ships without jump drives frantically shuttled as many of their passengers and crew as they could as the Cylon Raiders closed in on the fleet.

Those ships with FTL drives that reached their maximum capacity jumped away in bright flashes of bluish white light. Others were still spooling up their FTLs and as soon as they were ready they too disappeared in similar light flashes. COLONIAL ONE soon followed. The last of the FTL ships jumped just as the Raiders closed to within missile range. The complaints and curses of those too slow to transfer passengers and crew could be heard over the wireless systems of each of the FTL ships as they jumped away. As the flashes of the jump drives dissipated they were replaced by multiple nuclear explosions as the Cylons killed off the remaining ships.

All that was left in the area where the refugees marshaled was a dissipating temporary star and wreckage. The Cylon Raiders flew through the debris field shooting up any shuttlecraft or ship that survived the destruction. After several minutes the Raiders detected no more life signs and moved on to the next reported gaggle of surviving ships.

RAGNAR IN THE OUTER LIMITS OF THE CYRANNUS CLUSTER:

Multiple flashes of light appeared over the mouth of the storm that led down into the pocket of space within the massive gas giant. After the fleet had finished exiting their jumps and formed up a pair of F/A 302s along with a pair of Mark II Vipers escorted and led the refugee fleet down to the Ragnar Station. Along with the Refugee Fleet there were one Valkerie-Class Battlestar, three Colonial Fleet Gunstars and two Colonial Fleet Destroyers. This was all that anyone knew was left of the Colonial Fleet and the civilian shipping from the worlds of the Twelve Colonies.

Roslin was once again in the cockpit sized bridge of COLONIAL ONE watching as they maneuvered down the channel into the pocket where a Colonial Fleet Anchorage was stationed. She saw that the massive RAGNAR Station was still active and that the CFB GALATICA was docked to one of the piers along with a small Gunstar like ship that looked like a miniature Battlestar. "That must be the ship of the Earthers," she said out loud as she thought about it.

Capt. Lee Adama nodded and said, "Yes it looks similar to what we would build, but from the DRADIS reading I am watching here she is putting out more power than the GALACTIC or any single Colonial ship here." He then looked up to see a mixed flight of the alien fighters and Mark II Vipers going back up the channel to its mouth. "I guess my father and his new friends are placing a picket line up there to watch for the arrival of any Cylon ships," he commented as the six fighters sped past all that was left of the Colonial Fleet and the Colonies' Merchant Marine.

The crew of COLONIAL ONE docked inside the port flight deck of the GALACTICA along with Raptors from each of the remaining Colonial ships. At the air lock which COLONIAL ONE was docked to Roslin, her aid Billy Keikeya and Capt. Adama were met by Colonel Tigh and Capt. Aaron Kelly the GALACTICA's Landing Safety Officer or LSO. The rest of the ships' commanders were met down in the hangar bay by other members of the GALACTICA's Officers and Crew. As Col. Tigh and Capt. Kelly led Roslin and Capt. Adama to the ward room the other escorts did the same with their charges.

MAIN WARD ROOM CFB GALACTICA

President Roslin and Billy Keikeya accompanied by Captain Adama entered into the Ward Room behind Colonel Tigh as Captain Kelly went back to the CIC to resume his duties. The rest of the ships' captains civilian and Colonial Fleet were escorted in as well. The entourage stopped and looked at several military personnel in green flight suits or in digital patterned camouflage combat fatigues similar to the Colonial Marine Corps BDUs in cut setting up what looked like lap top computers and some sort of projector.

Cmdr. Adama looked up from where he was talking with a blond woman in a green flight suit with a black or maybe very dark blue five pointed star on each shoulder in a plastic pocket. He waved Capt. Adama, Roslin and her aid over to him. The trio walked up and noticed that there was a yellowish tan woman with dark hair wearing a civilian pants suit the cut of which would look at home in any city on any of the Colonies. There was a man with greying brown hair wearing a dress uniform that was a dark not quite navy shade of blue. On the epaulets of his jacket were three five pointed stars. Roslin thought to herself that these stars were rank pins and since the man had three of them that meant he out ranked the woman with him. 

Cmdr. Adama indicated each of the two officers with him and said, "President Laura Roslin may I introduce Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill of the United States Air Force and commanding officer of Earth's Homeworld Security Command and Brigadier General Samantha Carter commanding officer of the Second Deep Space Wing also in the United States Air Force. Roslin took and shook each General's hand and then waited for Adama to tell her what the three of them were discussing.

That was when she noticed that they were looking over star charts. On pocket sized memo style paper pads the three of them had been making notations on various things like the locations of habitable planets or at least locations of resources to make their escape easier. Brig. Gen. Carter touched an earpiece and acted as if she were listing to a conversation. Then she looked at Cmdr. Adama. "Commander we may need to piggy back with one of your ships. I've just been informs by my Chief Science Officer and my Chief Engineer that our hyperdrive is burned out and the HAMMOND will need to be dry docked for the repairs. The damage for the overload we took that sent us here burned out more components than we have spares for."

Bill Adama nodded then said, "We can grapple the HAMMOND to our ventral hull and jump with your ship attached to us. I have had to do this a couple of times with the VALKERIE when I commanded her and at least once with the GALACTICA when I was her XO after a Gunstar had a bad run in with a pirate vessel along the Armistice Line. I warn you though our FTL works different than yours and it may be unsettling at first to those not used to it."

Carter nodded then keyed the microphone clipped to her flight suit, "Colonel Young, prepare to have the HAMMOND grapple onto the ventral hull of the GALACTICA. Commander Adama has okayed our piggy backing on the GALACTICA." She nodded her head as she listened to the officer on the other end of the wireless conversation.

Roslin then asked, "So Commander what are you and Generals O'Neill and Carter discussing?" She was looking at the star charts and some of the notes the three were taking as they planned whatever it was they were planning. She noticed that the Commander was looking at her so she turned her head just enough to make eye contact with him

"We are going over the plan to get us and anyone else we've saved out of the Cyrannus Cluster and as a far away from the Cylons as we can," said Adama before he then talked her through the plan to evacuate as many people as they can to an Earth controlled world just four light years from Earth itself. "The planet they are talking about settling us on is Alpha Centauri Alpha Three. The IOA will offer us assistance with building our new community there. The planet they named Prometheus is like Caprica or Earth in that it has varied climates and will be good for farming and later the building of an industrial complex."

Adama then showed her stills of the planet taken from orbit by a ship called the USS INTREPID. "They made a survey of the star system last year thinking of building a colony of their own there. In the Alpha Centauri system there are three suns with the two main sequence stars orbiting a common bray point like each of the binary systems in this cluster do. The third sun a fluctuation Red Dwarf which orbits the two larger stars has a planet that would be habitable except that when Proxima Centauri or Alpha Centauri Gamma flares the planet is close enough to be fried by the flare. The second system Alpha Centauri Beta, which is a yellow orange or G9V main sequence star has a habitable planet in its second orbit. Prometheus orbits Alpha Centauri Alpha in its third orbit and is Caprica like as I said before. Alpha Centauri Alpha like Helios Alpha and Sol is a G2V main sequence star."

Roslin had been a high school astronomy teacher before becoming Adar's advisor on education when he was Mayor of Caprica City and later his Secretary of Education so she understood what Cmdr. Adama was telling her about the stars of this Alpha Centauri triple star system. It was close enough to Earth for them to be able to help if needed and far enough from the Colonies that if they were careful they would be well away from the Cylons.

Roslin looked up at General O'Neill and said, "General O'Neill can you and your people come to our aid if the Cylons follow us to this new home? Also why not settle us on Earth with our brothers and sisters?" She gave him the school teacher expecting an answer look that she saw visibly shook him. He swallowed hard and it was Carter who came to his rescue.

"Madame President, Earth is heavily populated and before this attack on the colonies was the thirteenth most industrialized human world in the galaxy. We have a population of over seven billion people now. I know the few tens of thousands saved by you and this fleet, are a drop in the bucket of our humanity on Earth, but you would lose your cultural identity if we resettled you on Earth. On Prometheus your people can maintain their culture and still intermingle with their cousins on Earth. We are only four light years away from Alpha Centauri. That is just an FTL skip from the Sol star system with either of our FTL systems."

Lt. Gen. O'Neill then said after Carter saved him, "Though the people of Earth know about the wider galaxy now we have only just begun to explore space beyond our planet and its moon with starships of our own. What we've learned before we learned through use of the Stargate network. Since we have not found one in the Cyrannus Cluster yet we are working on the assumption there is not one here or it was buried long ago. Still with Earth and Prometheus being so close we will be neighbors. We can even explore the system together."

Camile Wray then spoke, "As the representative of the International Oversight Authority of the United Nations and the Stargate Alliance we can assist with humanitarian aid and help with your resettlement on Prometheus. We may not be entirely as advanced as the Colonies once were, but we can help. Also we will gain from the surviving military as they have more experience in interstellar and interplanetary warfare than we do. We have fought three wars already, but we used guerilla tactics and used our enemies' strengths against them. We would like to consolidate the remnants of the Colonial Fleet with the Earth's Fleet. Between the two peoples we can build new model ships to protect us and to explore the stars around Earth and beyond."

Roslin nodded as she listened then said, "So we gain a new world of our own. You gain our expertise in starship building and warfare. We get to keep our cultural distinctiveness and also get to trade with our cousins on Earth. I think we can work with that Commander Adama. Now since we have a fleet of ships waiting out there in the pocket around Ragnar I think my second official duty after getting as many of our people here as I and my staff could save will be to promote you to the rank of Rear Admiral. Admiral Adama, check the supplies and stores reserved here at Ragnar and find yourself the proper rank insignia. I believe from what little I know of the Colonial Fleet's regulations you are now out of uniform."

Carter looked at Adama and said, "In the United States Navy the rank of Rear Admiral is split between the lower and upper halves. I think if you can't find the right Colonial rank pins we can scrounge up a set of Rear Admiral stars or at least the Air Force equivalent which is Major General."

The other commanders joined into the meeting and the discussions went on for another hour as each ship was inspected and people transferred to ships that could make the voyage. The two Battlestars and the rest of the remnants of the Colonial Fleet were restocked and rearmed from the stores kept on RAGNAR ANCHORAGE. The bunkers and lockers were cleared of everything and loaded onto every ship in the combined fleet including the HAMMOND. The HAMMOND even spread out some of its excess crew to take positions in the crew of the GALACTICA to open up space on the already overcrowded Deep Space Carrier. There were even rounds of the same caliber as the HAMMOND's rail guns and warheads that could be teleported into hostile ships if needed.

After the ships had all been restocked and those ships with defensive batteries as well as those with offensive batteries were rearmed an F/A 302 piloted by Sharon Satterfield returned and HAMMOND's Flight Safety Officer or FSO directed to land on the GALACTICA. Maj. Satterfield after her F/A 302C Starfighter II was secured in one of GALACTICA's maintenance bays was the victim of multiple stares as she took of her flight helmet and stepped down off her fighter followed by her rear seater or Combat Systems Officer or CSO. The First Lieutenant nudged Maj. Satterfield and said, "I think they've seen you before. It looks like they're surprised to see you stepping out of our 302 ma'am."

That was when one of the Colonial utility shuttlecraft called a Raptor was put into the maintenance bay next to her 302 and the pilot opened its hatch and climbed out followed by her Electronic Countermeasures Officer or ECO. This woman took off her flight helmet then stopped and stared at Maj. Satterfield. Satterfield's CSO nudged her again and said, "Major were you separated at birth or something?" He pointed with his helmet towards Boomer who looked like the spitting image of Satterfield. He heard Satterfield curse then. She said some things that would have made sailors back in San Diego blush.

The Raptor pilot walked over to Maj. Satterfield and her CSO and said, "Junior Lieutenant Sharon Valerii." Then she held out her hand for Satterfield to shake it.

Satterfield cleared the fog of the shock of seeing one of her sisters for the first time since her faction assigned her to Earth from her head. She said, "Major Sharon Satterfield United States Air Force, Deputy Commander of the First Fighter Squadron and Deputy Science Officer of the USS HAMMOND." At that the offered hand snapped up to the brow of the Junior Lieutenant into a proper military salute. Satterfield returned Valerii's salute.

"Sorry sir," said Jr. Lt. Valerii as she brought her right hand down and again offered it to Satterfield. Satterfield shook Valerii's hand then. Valerii felt weird shaking the hand of someone who looked just like her.

"Ma'am, Lieutenant, in the American Military and Naval customs and regulations female officers are called ma'am by junior officers, NCOs and enlisted personnel," Satterfield instructed Valerii as she shook the Colonial Lieutenant's hand. "From you surprised look I think there are some things we need to discuss in the presence of your superior officers and mine."

Minutes later Satterfield and Valerii found themselves standing before Cmdr. Adama, Generals O'Neill and Carter and President Roslin in Cmdr. Adama's Office which was part of his quarters. Adama spoke first saying, "Major Satterfield I already know that you are a Cylon in the service of the United States Air Force and Earth's Homeworld Security Command. Now Lieutenant Valerii scans show that you are like Major Satterfield a Cylon clone. I am not sure who the original was or even if she is still alive out there somewhere. Yet you have been a good officer under my command the last three years and I will not discharge you from the Fleet just because your native people are again at war with us."

Roslin looked at Adama at first with shock then she remembered the discussion she had with O'Neill, Carter, and Adama while Boomer and Squeaker stood outside the Commander's Quarters' hatch watch over by a mixed team of Colonial and American Marines. At first Boomer couldn't accept the fact that she was actually a Cylon, but something Satterfield said to her as they finished up all the medical screens done by the HAMMOND's CMO or Chief Medical Officer got through to her.

Satterfield said it was some sort of programming that blocked the memories of those who did not escape John Cavil's clutches. Roslin looked at Satterfield then at Valerii. Even before Valerii knew the truth and had been awakened by Satterfield she had done her duties to the Colonials without regard for her own life and was brave in the face of adversity during this crisis. Roslin cleared her throat and said, "Lieutenant Valerii I take it before Satterfield said whatever it was to awaken you, you did not know you were in fact a Cylon?" She watched the Colonial Fleet Officer for any reaction other than answering her question.

"Yes sir Madame President. I did not know these last three years that I was a Cylon sleeper agent. I now remember a Number Six had trained and conditioned me for this mission and I was to remain hidden within the officers and crew of the GALACTICA awaiting orders from some contact that would meet me aboard here after the attacks began. Yet to tell you the truth my training as a Colonial Fleet Officer is so intensive after I was accepted into the Academy and then Basic Flight School and the Raptor Pilots' School. This training has indoctrinated me to be as good a Colonial Fleet Officer as I can be. After talking with Major Satterfield in the Life Station I can say that I would not willingly betray my comrades in arms, my commanding officers, or this ship."

Everyone in Adama's office respectfully listened to her then Adama asked, "Boomer can you fill us in on what you remember about your people and their abilities?" He watched Valerii struggle and wrestle within herself as she thought it over. Then she looked him straight in the face.

"Yes sir Commander, er I mean Admiral, I can and I will also fulfill my duties as an Officer of the Colonial Fleet. I may not have been born on the mining colony of Troy as my implanted memories say, but I am and have been for the last three years a Colonial Fleet Officer. I will live up to the oath I took to defend the Colonies, the Articles of Colonization from all enemies foreign and domestic, and to obey the lawful orders those officers lawfully appointed over me." Adama nodded at her answer as it was what he was seeking from her.

"Lieutenant until I and Generals O'Neill and Carter tell you otherwise you are assigned to be Major Satterfield's Colonial Liaison Officer," Adama said. He looked at her as her face showed a mixture of relief and concern. "You will follow Major Satterfield's orders as if she was a Colonial Officer. As of now you are under both the Colonial Code of Military Justice and the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice."

He looked at Maj. Satterfield and said, "Major you are to help Lieutenant Valerii to become a Cylon citizen of the Colonies. You are not to mention that either of you are in fact Cylons. This is for your safety as well as hers. Also you and Lieutenant Valerii are to help us search for anymore Cylon infiltration models within the Fleet. Any who wish to continue serving in the Colonial Fleet regardless of their rank will be interviewed and debriefed like both you and Valerii will be."

Satterfield looked at Generals O'Neill and Carter and Carter said, "You will be all right Sharon both of you will. Sharon Valerii will be seconded to us over on the HAMMOND and will serve as our Colonial Fleet Liaison Officer and as our second expert on the Cylons."

Satterfield nodded and said, "Yes ma'am I understand. Will these new duties be in addition to my normal duties?" She looked at Brig. Gen. Carter with pleading eyes. She was hoping that the fact that she was a Cylon would not short circuit her career. She loved the Air Force and wanted to be able to retire from it. She was a lifer after all.

Carter replying said, "Yes these will be in addition to your normal duties. With our hyper drive out we will only be traveling as fast as the slowest of the Colonial ships can travel. You will during this time teach your sister the English language and work with the Cylon PWs in the HAMMOND's Brig. We need to see if they will remain loyal to the cause of this John Cavil or come over to our side. We need every bit of help we can get. If they do turn coat we will watch them carefully until they have proven they can be trusted."

O'Neill then said, "They and you are not the Replicators any Cylon clone or machine that comes over to us will be treated fairly. Any who still have allegiance to Cavil's faction well we cross that bridge when we get to it. As far as I am concerned you are an American and an Officer in her Air Force. You took an oath to protect and defend our Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic and to follow the orders of those lawfully appointed over you. I expect you to stick to that oath. You may be a Cylon-American, but you are an American first remember that."

For the benefit of the Colonials in the room Satterfield translated what Generals Carter and O'Neill had said. She knew that both of her superior officers spoke the modern dialect of Greek which despite the centuries of separation the Colonials could understand as well as she understood Caprican and Piconese. Carter and O'Neill could make themselves understood by the Colonials without her, but Satterfield saw that when the Colonials were spoken to in their dialect of the Greek language the understood things with a greater clarity.

After this debriefing the phone on Admiral Adama's office's wall next to his desk clattered. He picked it up and listened intently. Then he looked at Roslin, O'Neill, Carter, her and Valerii. "Madame President, Generals O'Neill and Carter, Major Satterfield, and Lieutenant Valerii we all need to get back to our respective duty stations. Kara Thrace has returned and she's said that the Cylons are setting up a blockade at the mouth of the storm."

As the ships of the fleet were making ready for their escape the leading science expert of the Colonies, Doctor Gaius Baltar who had been rescued by Boomer and transported to COLONIAL ONE let on that he noticed a piece of equipment over the plot table in GALACTICA's CIC while he was helping Lt. Gaeta to go over the code of the Command Navigation Program to find how the Cylons used it to take over the ships of the Fleet and destroy them. The GALACTICA's technicians removed it and it was taken through the air lock into the HAMMOND for their Science Officer Major Jennifer Hailey to inspect.

Baltar also let it slip that he saw the Department of Education's Liaison Officer Aaron Doral paying undue attention to the device earlier. A scan by an Officer from the HAMMOND with a hand held scanner confirmed that Doral was indeed a Cylon. Despite his protestations he was hauled into the now empty main hold of RAGNAR STATION and left their with a week's worth of USAF Meals Ready To Eat or MREs. Then they locked and welded him in.

Afterwards the GALACTICA with the HAMMOND locked to her ventral hull, the VALKERIE-Class Battlestar Freya, and the Gunstars took up defensive positions above the mouth of the storm as the Colonial Fleet Destroyers and the Civilian ships all made jumps to their first jump stops beyond the Red Line or the maximum safe distance the oldest of the Colonial FTL ships could make. This was out in the Prolmar Sector coreward and a little spinward of the Cyrannus Cluster. It was also on an indirect path to Earth and later Alpha Centaur Alpha and Prometheus.

The GALACTICA and her escorts fend off attacking Cylon raiders and their Basestars as the civilian part of the fleet escapes. After even the HAMMONDs wing of F/A 302C Starfighter IIs returned to the barn all remaining ships jump away leaving empty space for the last missile barrage to fly into.

After the ships of the Fleet regroup and form up into the convoy formation they will use during most of their voyage a memorial service is held in the Starboard Flight Deck of the GALACTICA since it had been converted into the Museum of the First Cylon War. Thus it was air tight and had the room for the number of people in attendance. There were just over 100 flag draped coffins on the deck. A mixed honor guard of Colonial and United States Marines stood watch around the dead. All but ten of the coffins were draped with the flag of the occupant's native colony. Of the other ten four were draped in the American Flag, Two with the Union Jack, two with the French Tri-Color, one with the flag of the Peoples Republic of China and one with the flag of the Russian Federation.

The HAMMOND did not have a Chaplain assigned as yet so Major Janice Elosha did the duties of saying prayers for the dead and reading from the Sacred Scrolls or the Colonials scriptures. After her prayers were finished and a somber, "So say we All," said newly promoted Admiral Adama strode out among the rows of coffins. He turned and looked at everyone present from Colonial Fleet and Earth personnel to the civilians in attendance. He was glaring at them all for their lack luster response.

As Adama looked across the faces of everyone he said, "Are they the lucky ones? That's what you're thinking, isn't it? We're a long way from home. We've jumped way beyond the Red Line, into uncharted space. Limited supplies, limited fuel. Few allies, and now, no hope? Maybe it would have been better for us to have died quickly, back on the Colonies with our families, instead of dying out here slowly, in the emptiness of dark space. Where shall we go? What shall we do? Life here began out there. Those are the first words of the sacred scrolls, and they were told to us by the Lords of Kobol, many countless centuries ago. And they made it perfectly clear that we are not alone in this universe. Elosha, there's a thirteenth colony of humankind, is there not?"

Elosha responded, "Yes. The scrolls tell us a Thirteenth Tribe left Kobol in the early days. They traveled far and made their home upon a planet called Earth, which circled a distant and unknown star."

Adama his anger at the demoralized people before him, Colonials and Earthers, said, "It's not unknown. I know where it is! Those who helped today know where it is and what its name is, Earth. The most guarded secret we have. The location was only known by the senior commanders of the fleet, and we dare not share it with the public. Not while there was a Cylon threat upon us. For now we have a refuge to go to. A refuge the Cylons know nothing about. It won't be an easy journey. It'll be long, and arduous. But I promise you one thing: on the memory of those lying here before you, we shall find it, and Earth shall become our new home. So say we all!

A subdued and somber crowd responded saying rather softly, "So say we all."

Adama not pleased with that response even from the Earthers in the ranks so he repeated it louder this time, "So Say We All!

This second time the response was only slightly less subdued.

Adama then drug Generals O'Neill and Carter up with him into the middle of the flag draped coffins and said again with more emphasis, "SO SAY WE ALL!"

Then those gathered on the former flight deck responded louder and with feeling, "SO SAY WE ALL!" The people said the saying three more times shouting it out as loud as they could.

Later in the Ward Room on the HAMMOND Adama, O'Neill, Carter and Roslin sat drinking some Columbian dark roasted coffee when Roslin said, "The late President Adar and I had a long talk about Earth. He and I even talked over it with the Secretary of Defense. There is no hidden record of where Earth is. You only made that up after meeting with Jack and Samantha."

Adama knew he was caught in a lie, but said, "Yes, I lied to them slightly. Granted the senior members of the Fleet did not know about where Earth truly lay until I met Generals O'Neill and Carter on RAGNAR, but our people needed something to hope for, to cling to in order to want to survive. Though, Jack has told me that it is unlikely we'll get resettled on Earth itself, we will be colonizing a neighboring star system for them. That will be revealed as we travel towards Earth."


End file.
